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REGULATORS      of  NORTH   CAROLINA 
Bassett. 


XI.-THE  REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA  (1765-1771). 


By  Prof.  John  S.  Bassett,  of  Trinity  College,  North  Carolina. 


The  recent  publication  of  The  Colonial  Records  of  North  Caro- 
lina must  lead  to  the  rewriting  of  much  of  the  State's  colonial 
history.  The  several  writers  who,  before  the  appearance  of 
these  volumes,  have  written  on  The  War  of  the  Regulation 
have  been  handicapped  by  having  to  use  as  sources  of  informa- 
tion narratives  that  have  been  prepared  by  one  or  the  other  of 
the  parties  to  the  struggle.  They  have  not  had  access  to  the 
now  published  mass  of  documents,  which,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  throw  new  light  on  many  features  of  the  movement. 
The  desire  to  use  this  light  has  inspired  the  present  paper.     It 

iThe  Regulation  is  one  of  the  best  written  ahout  subjects  of  North 
Carolina  history.  Caruthers  treats  it  extensively  in  his  Life  of  Dr.  David 
Caldwell  (1842).  He  went  carefully  over  the  ground  and  obtained  a  great 
deal  of  his  material  from  old  men  who  had  once  been  Regulators.  He  is 
entirely  on  the  side  of  the  Regulators.  Caruthers  also  treats  of  the  subject, 
but  not  extensively,  in  his  Revolutionary  Incidents  (first  series),  pages  24 
et  seq.  Dr.  F.  L.  Hawkes  has  a  sketch  in  Cooke's  Revolutionary  History 
of  North  Carolina  (1853),  pages  13  et  seq.  It  deals  chiefly  with  Husband's 
Sermons  to  Asses.  Jones  treats  the  matter  in  his  Defence  of  North  Caro- 
lina (1834),  pages  34-56.  Wheeler  publishes  Husband's  book  under  the 
heading  of  Orange  County  (see  his  History  of  North  Carolina,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  301-331),  and  Martin  and  Williamson,  in  their  histories,  have  treated 
it  as  fully  as  the  nature  of  their  works  would  admit. 

Dr.  T.  B.  Kingsbury  published  several  short  articles  on  the  subject  in 
Our  Living  and  Our  Dead  (see  Vol.  II,  p.  434 ;  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  39,  314,  and  629). 
The  subject  is  also  treated  in  the  North  Carolina  Journal  of  Education, 
October  and  November,  1859,  and  in  Wiley's  Sketch  of  North  Carolina. 

All  the  above,  except  Martin  and  Williamson,  are  apologists  of  the  Regu- 
lation. At  first  in  the  history  of  the  State  everyone  seems  to  have  fol- 
lowed the  accounts  of  Tryon  and  his  followers  as  set  forth  in  these  two 
histories.  It  was  about  the  time  that  Jones's  Defence  was  published  that 
there  came  a  change  in  sentiment.  Since  that  time  nearly  everything 
written  has  discovered  in  the  Regulation  a  worthy  struggle  for  liberty. 

One  book  recently  published,  Colonel  Waddell's  Colonial  Officer  and  His 
Times,  is  an  exception  to  this  rule.     Writing  from  the  standpoint  of  the 

o 


A 


142  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

is  believed  that  at  least  two  new  points  in  regard  to  the  Regu- 
lation may  now  be  taken  as  historical  truth. 

(1)  The  Regulation  was  not  attempted  as  a  revolution.  It 
was  rather  a  peasants'  rising,  a  popular  upheaval.  This  is 
a  chief  new  point  which,  it  seems,  a  study  of  the  records  should 
reveal.  A  revolution  involves  a  change  of  the  form  or  prin- 
ciples of  government.  It  is  constitutional  in  its  significance. 
A  peasants'  rising  aims  at  a  change  of  agents  who  administer, 
or  of  the  manner  of  administering,  affairs  iinder~-principles  or 
forms  that  remain  intact.  It  is  a  matter  of  party,  chiefly.  A 
revolution  may  embrace  a  popular  rising,  and  a  popular  rising- 
may  run  into,  or  in  a  manner  partake  of  the  nature  of,  a 
revolution ;  but  we  may  always  find  the  general  difference 
just  mentioned.  Could  it  have  had  any  other  fate  than  it  did 
have,  the  Regulation  might  possibly  have  run  into  a  revolu- 
tion ;  but  at  the  time  when  it  was  crushed  it  had  not  reached 
that  stage. 

(2)  Another  fact  that  the  records  emphasize  is  this:  The 
Regulation  was  not  a  religious  movement.  It  was  rather  of  an 
economic  and  political  nature.  It  was  not  only  not  religious, 
but  it  had  the  opposition  of  at  least  four  of  the  five  leadiug 
denominations  in   the  disaffected  district.     The  Established 


biographer  of  one  of  the  chief  men  who  joined  in  suppressing  the  Regu- 
lators, Colonel  Waddell  has  been  led  to  form  an  opinion  unfavorable  to 
them.     Many  of  his  points  are  well  taken. 

There  are  two  contemporary  accounts  of  the  movement.  The  more 
important  of  these  two  is  An  Impartial  Relation  of  the  First  Rise  and  Cause 
of  the  Recent  Differences  in  Public  Affairs  in  the  Province  of  North  Caro- 
lina, 1770,  pages  104.  This  work,  on  what  seems  very  good  grounds,  is 
usually  attributed  to  Hermon  Husband.  It  is  a  well-written  statement  of 
the  first  part  of  the  struggle.  It  contains  many  documents  and  is  usually 
reliable.  It  is  reprinted  in  Wheeler's  History  of  North  Carolina,  II,  301- 
331.  The  other  book  is  A  Fan  for  Fanning  and  a  Touchstone  for  Tryon, 
by  Regulus,  Boston,  1771.  The  author  of  this  work  is  unknown.  It  has 
been  ascribed  to  Husband,  but  the  internal  evidence  is  against  such  a 
view.  Governor  Swain  thought  it  was  written  by  Shubal  Stearns,  a  Bap- 
tist preacher  from  New  England,  who  was  living  in  Orange  in  1771.  It  is 
not  nearly  so  exact  a  statement  of  facts  as  the  Impartial  Relation,  being 
characterized  by  wordy  complaints  against  Try  on  and  the  other  officers. 
It  was  reprinted  in  the  North  Carolina  University  Magazine,  Vol.  VIII, 
193  and  289.  The  most  valuable  of  all  sources  is  The  Colonial  Records  of 
North  Carolina,  Vols.  VII  and  VIII.  They  contain  the  documents  of  the 
Regulators,  the  records  of  the  courts  and  of  the  assembly,  the  reports  of 
Tryon  to  the  home  government,  and  many  other  documents  bearing  on 
the  subject.     They  have  been  freely  used  in  this  paper. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        143 

Church,  of  course,  opposed  it.  The  Presbyterian  pastors  united 
in  a  letter  to  the  governor,  in  which  they  assured  him  of  their 
"  abhorrence  of  the  present  turbulent  and  disorderly  spirit  that 
shows  itself  in  some  parts  of  this  Province."  They  also  wrote  a 
circular  letter  enjoining'  all  good  Presbyterians  to  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  Regulation.1  This  letter  was  read  at  a  muster 
in  the  Presbyterian  county  of  Rowan,  and  perhaps  in  Meck- 
lenburg, and  was  of  good  service  in  securing  volunteers  to 
march  against  the  Regulators  in  1768.2  It  was  signed  by 
David  Caldwell,  Henry  Patillo,  Hugh  McAden,  and  James 
Ores  well,  names  of  the  highest  respect  in  the  history  of  this 
denomination  in  isorth  Carolina.  The JBaptists  were  perhaps 
the  strongest  in  numbers  in  the  vicinity.  Morgan  Edwards, 
who  in  1772  traveled  through  this  region  gathering  materials 
for  a  history  of  the  Baptists,  could  hear  of  but  seven  Baptists 
who  had  joined  the  movement,  and  these,  in  accordance  with  a 
regulation  of  the  Saudy_Creek  Baptist  Association,  were  excom- 
municated." In  1768  Governor  Tryon  attended  divine  service 
at  a  German  church  in  Mecklenburg  County,  and  the  minister 
"  recommended  with  warmth  a  due  obedience  to  the  laws  of 
the  country."4  This  same  minister  accompanied  the  troops  to 
Hillsboro  and  preached  before  them  there.  The  Quakers  were 
the  only  other  considerable  sect  in  the  vicinity,  and  they  took 
practically  the  same  position  that  the  Baptists  took.5 

It  is  not  to  be  thought,  however,  that  members  of  these 
separate  churches  did  not  join  the  Regulation.  They  joined 
freely,  but  all  the  evidence  goes  to  show  that  it  was  not  from 
religious  motives.  Hermon  Husband  declared  that  they  were 
of  all  sects,  and  that  the  leaders  were  of  the  Established 
Church.6 

To  understand  properly  the  struggle  which  we  are  about  to 
investigate,  we  must  first  acquaint  ourselves  with  the  physical 

1  Colonial  Records  of  North  Carolina,  VII,  813-816. 

*  lb.,  VII,  822  and  886. 
3  lb.,  VIII,  655-656. 

*  lb.,  VII,  821. 

6  Dr.  S.  B.  Weeks,  whose  forthcoming  work  on  Southern  Quakers  and 
Slavery  is  announced  as  tbis  monograph  goes  to  tbe  press,  is  authority 
for  this  statement.  With  such  excellent  verbal  authority,  the  writer  does 
not  hesitate  to  print  the  above  assertion  in  advance  of  the  published 
work. 

6 Wheeler:  History  of  North  Carolina,  II,  315.  See,  also,  Purefoy's  His- 
tory of  Sandy  Creek  Association,  pages  69-73,  where  Morgan  Edwards  is 
freely  quoted. 


144  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

characteristics  of  the  locality,  the  social  condition  of  the 
inhabitants,  and  the  political  institutions  of  the  colony.  To 
these  preliminaries  we  turn. 

THE   BACK    COUNTIES. 

The  topography  of  North  Carolina  reveals  on  the  east  a 
broad  alluvial  plain.  This  is  intersected  by  numerous  rivers, 
along  whose  banks  lies  much  rich  low  ground.  West  of  this 
section  is  a  broken  region  of  red  clay  soil  thickly  netted  by 
small  streams,  which  makes  the  head  waters  of  the  larger  rivers 
of  the  plain.  Farther  west  are  high,  mountain-studded  pla- 
teaus, which  modern  railroad  facilities  are  showing  to  be 
perhaps  the  grandest  scenery  on  our  eastern  Atlantic  Slope. 

It  was  in  the  second  of  these  divisions  that  the  Regulation 
had  its  home.  At  the  time  of  which  we  write  this  region  was 
usually  known  as  "the  back  counties"  or  "the  back  country." 
It  is  hilly  upland,  and  its  fertile  soil  is  well  suited  to  the  growth 
of  grains,  grass,  and  fruit.  At  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  it  was  covered  by  large  forests  of  oak  and  hickory, 
broken  here  and  there  by  open  prairie-like  tracts  of  good 
grass.  To  a  passing  observer  the  country  is  much  like  that  of 
eastern  Pennsylvania  or  central  Maryland.  Indeed,  it  is  part 
of  a  continuous  geological  formation  which  lies  just  east  of 
the  Appalachian  foothills  and  extends  in  a  southwest  direction 
from  Pennsylvania  to  northern  Georgia. 

As  the  Keystone  State  marked  the  beginning  of  this  forma- 
tion, it  was  also  the  gateway  through  which  came  most  of  its 
population.  The  fertile  soil  and  the  liberal  government  of  the 
Quaker  drew  to  his  colony  at  an  early  day  a  strong  tide  of 
immigration.  So  great  was  the  stream  that  there  was  soon  an 
overflow.  Newcomers  willing  to  pay  good  prices  for  land 
induced  the  former  owners  to  sell  their  holdings  and  seek  others 
from  the  cheaper  lands  of  the  wilderness.  Thus  began  a  stream 
of  humanity  very  much  as  the  water  in  a  natural  depression 
rises  till  at  last  it  breaks  over  the  hills  and  cuts  a  channel 
through  the  plain.  The  course  taken  was  to  the  southwest. 
The  Virginia  valleys  were  filled.  Across  the  boundary  into 
North  Carolina2  poured  the  tide.     But  here  there  was  a  halt. 


'Mr.  Woodinason,  who  seems  to  have  visited  North  Carolina  in  1766, 
writes:  "  Africk  never  more  abounded  with  new  monsters  than  Pennsyl- 
"V  ania  with  new  sects,  who  are  continually  sending  out  their  emissaries 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT         145 

Along  the  lower  western  valleys  of  the  Yadkin  a  counter  car 
rent  from  the  South  was  met.  The  home  seekers  scattered 
themselves  around  in  all  directions,  carefully  picking  out  the 
best  land.  They  moved  to  the  west  till  they  reached  the 
mountains.  A  few  hunters  ventured  across  and  found  wide, 
sloping  stretches  of  luscious  grass.  With  alacrity  the  moun- 
tain gates  were  thrown  open  and  the  conquering  host  marcher! 
through.  It  was  the  beginning  of  "  the  winning  of  the  West." 
When  viewed  in  its  entirety  the  whole  movement  seems  a 
romance. 

The  people  who  led  this  movement  were  of  pioneer  lineage. 
While  still  in  Europe  they  had  behind  them  a  century  of 
frontier  life.  Early  in  the  seventeenth  century  James  I  moved 
many  Scotchmen  to  Ireland  with  an  idea  of  converting  the 
country  to  Protestantism.  In  this  he  failed.  The  Protestants 
lived  separate  from,  and  often  hostile  to,  the  natives.  The  tide 
of  Puritanism  that  swept  over  the  country  left  them  mostly 
Presbyterians.  The  country  was  not  a  home  for  them.  The 
soil  was  poor,  and  consequently  many  of  them  turned  their 
faces  to  the  New  World.  From  their  association  with  the  two 
countries  they  were  called  Scotch-Irish.  They  made  ideal 
frontiersmen.  While  others  came  in  their  rear  and  settled  close 
upon  them,  they  were  still  usually  the  ones  to  push  on  to  the 
next  stop,  ever  restless  and  fearless. 

It  was  shortly  before  1740  that  this  tide  reached  North  Car 
olina.  Coming  down  from  Virginia,  it  ran  along  the  head 
waters  of  the  Yadkin,  Haw,  Neuse,  Tar,  Catawba,  and  Deep 
rivers,  until  the  whole  country  from  what  is  now  the  vicinity 
of  Raleigh  on  the  east  to  the  neighborhood  of  Morganton  on 
the  west  was  taken  up.  So  rapid  was  the  movement  that 
Governor  Tryon  reports*  that  in  the  summer  and  winter  of  1765 
more  than  1,000  immigrants'  wagons  passed  through  Salis- 
bury, most  of  which  were  bound  for  parts  of  North  Carolina.1 
Among  those  who  came  one  can  easily  distinguish  Scotch- 
Irish,  Germans,  Moravians,  Welsh,  and  many  Englishmen. 


around."  His  narrative,  though  utterly  untrustworthy  in  regard  to  most 
that  he  says,  shows  that  it  was  generally  understood  that  the  uewconiers, 
especially  the  Baptists,  were  from  Pennsylvania.  (Colonial  Records,  VII, 
286,287.) 

1  Those  that  went  on  were  for  Georgia  and  Florida.     Some  of  these  came 
hack  to  North  Carolina.     (Colonial  Records,  VII,  248.) 

H.  Mis.  91 10 


146  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

Besides  those  who  came  through  the  Pennsylvania  doors,  there 
were  considerable  numbers  from  New  England,  New  Jersey, 
and  Maryland.  Tbey  came  by  families  or  by  friendly  bauds, 
and  occasionally  by  congregations.  They  placed  themselves 
as  chance  or  association  directed.  The  Germans  settled  in  the 
district  now  embraced  by  Cabarrus  and  parts  of  the  adjacent 
counties.  The  Moravians  took  in  common  ownership  the  beau- 
tiful tract  near  Salem  which  they  now  hold  in  severalty.  The 
Welsh  settled  chiefly  in  Duplin.  The  New  Jersey  people 
located  in  what  is  now  Davie  County,  and  the  Quakers  placed 
themselves  in  what  is  now  Randolph  and  Guilford.  Around 
Hillsboro  there  were  many  people,  but  they  seem  to  have  been 
drawn  from  many  different  localities. 

Tbe  eastern  plain  had  been  the  first  part  of  the  colony  to  be 
settled.  Convenience  of  transportation  and  the  desire  for  fer- 
tile river  shores  operated  to  group  the  earliest  settlers  along 
the  water  courses.  In  the  extreme  east  streams  were  so  numer- 
ous that  the  whole  country  was  practically  on  water  routes. 
This  region  was  soon  settled.  Conditions  here  were  favorable 
to  slave  labor,1  and  by  the  end  of  a  century's  growth  the  coast 
region  was  fairly  full  of  fine  estates  and  wealthy  families. 
Although  there  were  many  of  the  middle  class  settled  around 
them,  these  older  families  were  the  influential  factors  in  the 
State  and  in  society.  Old  settlers,  with  traditions  of  their  own, 
and  connected  chiefly  with  the  State  religion,  they  had  no 
sympathy  for  the  new  men  of  the  hills. 

There  was  also  a  natural  barrier  between  the  two  sections. 
This  was  a  sparsely  settled  region  of  pine  forest,  stretching 
monotonously  from  the  valley  of  the  Roanoke  on  the  north  to 
that  of  the  Cape  Fear  on  the  south.  It  was  so  far  from  the 
coast  that  it  was  traversed  by  few  rivers,  and  those  were  hardly 
navigable.  It  contained  but  little  "bottom*''  land  and  had  to 
wait  for  tbe  day  of  railroads  and  cotton  cultivation  before  it 
was  developed. 

Cut  off  thus  from  the  men  of  the  east,  the  men  of  the  "  back 
counties"  felt  no  more  sympathy  for  the  former  than  they 
received  from  them.     The  merchants  to  whom  they  hauled 


1  There  were  very  many  more  slaves  in  the  east  than  in  the  west.  In  1766 
in  Orange  there  were  33  whites  to  every  6  blacks.  In  Johnston  there  -were 
10  to  5.  In  Perquimans  there  were  5  to  10,  and  in  Brunswick  there  were 
2  to  11.     (Colonial  Records,  VII,  288,  289. ) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        147 

their  produce  at  Cross  Creek  l  were  either  Scotchmen  or  had 
come  from  Pennsylvania  with  the  rest  of  the  country.  The 
Presbyterians  received  their  first  ministers  from  the  Synod 
of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  and  later  on  sent  their  own 
ministerial  students  to  Princeton  College.  Hermon  Husband 
corresponded  with  Dr.  Franklin.  The  author  of  the  Fan  for 
Fanning-  printed  his  work  in  Boston.2  Indeed,  it  is  likely  that 
the  inhabitants  of  this  region  knew  more  about  Philadelphia  at 
that  time  than  about  Newbern  or  Edenton. 

The  life  of  the  people  was  that  of  the  pioneer.  The  neces- 
saries of  subsistence  were  plentiful,  but  luxuries  were  few. 
Some  old  men  who  had  been  Regulators  told  Caruthers  that 
about  the  time  of  the  Regulation  there  was  not  a  plank  floor, 
a  feather  bed,  a  riding  carriage,  or  a  side  saddle  within  the 
bounds  of  their  acquaintance. '  Yet  at  this  time  considerable 
advance  had  been  made  toward  the  cultivated  habits  of  older 
communities.  Many  churches  had  been  built,  though  they 
were  often  but  rude  structures.  In  Orange  there  was  a  regu- 
larly settled  parish  clergyman  who  had  his  church  in  Hillsboro. 
Farther  out  in  the  county  were  several  chapels  which  were 
served  by  readers.4  In  Rowan  a  clergyman  had  been  provided, 
but  the  Dissenters  were  making  it  difficult  for  him  to  enter 
into  his  living.5  Within  this  district  the  Presbyterians  had 
four  pastors,  each  of  whom  had  more  than  one  charge.  The 
Germans  had  pastors  there  also.6 

The  Baptists  had  been  organized  for  some  years.  In  1758 
the  Sandy  Creek7  Association  was  formed.  Only  two  of  the 
churches  in  it  were  within  the  district  of  the  Regulators,  but 

1  Now  Fayetteville. 

2  This  same  author  shows  his  feeling  for  the  east  as  follows :  "And  such 
has  been  the  fate  of  Newbern  and  other  places  in  North  Carolina  that 
for  many  years  they  were  erected  an  asylum  for  all  such  as  fled  from  their 
creditors  and  from  the  hand  of  justice,  and  such  as  would  not  live  by  work- 
ing elsewhere,  men  regardless  of  religion  and  all  moral  obligation.  Hence 
it  was  refugees  from  the  western  governments  and  from  Connecticut, 
found  a  safe  retreat  in  North  Carolina,  particularly  on  the  seacoast  and 
places  adjacent."     (Quoted  by  Swain  in  Univ.  Magazine,  Vol.  IX,  p.  465.) 

3  Life  of  Caldwell,  pp.  139, 140. 

4  The  site  of  one  of  these  chapels  was  selected  afterwards  for  the  seat  of 
the  University  of  North  Carolina. 

6  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  202-210,  and  502-507. 

6  lb.,  VIII,  727-757. 

7  Sandy  Creek  was  in  what  is  now  Randolph  County.  It  was  the  central 
held  of  the  Regulation. 


148  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

there  were  more  churches  ten  years  later.1  The  Quakers  erected 
their  meetinghouses  almost  as  soon  as  they  arrived.  Schools 
were  beginning  to  be  built  up.  Some  of  the  pastors  were  peda- 
gogues as  well.  Still,  ;t  is  well  to  remember  that  these  schools 
were  new  and  had  been  in  operation  hardly  long  enough  to 
inliuence  materially  the  adult  population.  The  slight  glimpse 
that  we  have  into  the  religious  life  of  all  of  these  people  shows 
them  to  have  been  honest,  sturdy,  and  independent,  and  per- 
haps not  always  easily  managed  by  their  pastors.  Coming 
from  a  land  of  liberal  ideas  of  government,  they  expected  to 
maintain  their  share  in  public  affairs.  Without  broad  political 
information,  without  communication  or  sympathy  with  the  pre- 
dominant element  in  the  government  of  the  province,  and  with 
strongly  impetuous  natures,  they  were  just  so  conditioned  that 
they  were  likely  to  redress  grievances  by  other  than  constitu- 
tional measures. 

The  political  institutions  were  not  of  a  nature  to  suit  a  peo- 
ple like  these.  The  constitution  left  them  a  very  small  share 
in  government.  The  exercise  of  the  executive,  the  judicial, 
and,  to  a  large  extent,  the  legislative  functions  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  central  royal  officeholders. 

The  governor  was  appointed  by  the  King,  and  represented 
the  royal  prerogative.  With  the  council,  he  was  the  chief  exec- 
utive agent.  The  councilors  were  appointed  by  the  Crown, 
usually  on  the  recommendation  of  the  governor,  and  they  could 
bo  relied  on  to  take  the  side  of  the  prerogative.  The  chief 
"justice  was  regularly  named  by  the  Crown.  The  governor  in 
council  appointed  the  county  justices  and  the  chief  justice,  tem- 
porarily, when  there  was  a  vacancy,  and  the  two  associates.2 
Out  of  council  he  appointed  the  officers  of  the  militia,  and 
selected  the  sheriff  from  three  freeholders  whose  names  had 
been  submitted  by  the  county  court.  He  must  also  approve  a 
bill  before  it  became  a  law,  and  he  was  commander  of  the 
militia.  It  was  thus  that  his  influence  was  paramount.  Not 
being  paid  by  the  people's  assembly,  he  was  not  afraid  of  it. 

There  were  two  systems  of  courts,  the  superior  and  the  infe- 
rior. The  former  was  divided  into  six  circuits,  which  were 
traveled  twice  a  year.    The  chief  justice  and  the  two  associates 


1  See  Purefoy's  History  of  Sandy  Creek  Association,  62-65. 
2Colonial  Records,  VII,  690,691. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        149 

held  it.  Its  ministerial  officers  were  appoiuted  by  some  agent 
of  the  central  authority.  The  inferior  court  was  the  county 
court.  It  was  held  by  the  justices  of  the  county  and  was  in 
nearly  every  respect  the  sole  unit  of  local  government.  The 
sheriff  executed  its  command,  usually  through  his  deputies,  of 
which  there  was  a  liberal  supply.  He  also  collected  all  the 
taxes.  The  county  and  parish  taxes  were  levied  by  the  county 
court,  and  the  sheriff  returned  the  same  to  them.  The  appoint- 
ing of  the  clerks  of  county  courts  was  unfortunately  ai  ranged. 
There  was  a  clerk  of  the  pleas,  a  relic  of  a  past  office,  whose 
position  was  now  a  sinecure,  and  he  appointed  the  clerks  of 
the  thirty-four  county  courts.  The  salaries  of  these  clerks 
ranged  from  £50  to  £500  a  year.  The  clerk  of  the  pleas  let 
out  the  county  clerkships  to  those  who  paid  him  the  most  rent 
for  them.  By  this  means  he  had  an  office  which  paid  him  with- 
out the  least  labor  £560  a  year.  Governor  Martin  said,  in  1772, 
that  the  county  clerks  used  their  influence  to  get  into  the 
assembly,  where  they  were  able  to  keep  this  arrangement  from 
being  abolished.1 

The  assembly  was  bicameral.  The  upper  house  was  the  coun- 
cil. The  lower  house  was  elected  by  the  freeholders.  Election  s 
were  held  by  the  sheriff,  but  there  seems  to  have  been  no  strict 
oversight  of  the  polls.  Furthermore,  there  were  no  party  lines. 
The  influential  men  brought  out  a  man  as  candidate,  and  he 
usually  received  the  election.  When  a  bill  had  been  passed  in 
both  houses  and  signed  by  the  governor,  it  must  be  apj^ved 
by  the  board  of  trade  before  it  was  a  permanent  law. 

The  result  of  all  this  was  that  in  each  county  there  were  a 
certain  number  of  men  who  were  likely  to  have  in  control  all 
the  offices.  This  is  suggestive  of  what  we  to-day  are  accus- 
tomed to  call  "  court-house  rings.'"  The  disadvantage  was  that 
the  continued  effectiveness  of  government  depended  too  much 
on  the  personal  honesty  of  these  officeholders.  In  many  of  the 
eastern  counties  this  state  of  affairs  seems  to  have  worked 
well.  But  in  the  remote  sections  there  is  much  evidence  that 
the  officers  were  selfish  and  mercenary,  and  that  they  were 
mutually  leagued  together  to  forward  their  own  selfish  ends. 
It  was  to  try  to  clean  out  this  Augean  stable  that  Regulation 
had  its  existence. 


1  Colonial  Records,  IX,  264-266. 


150  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

THE    GRIEVANCES   OF   THE   REGULATORS. 

The  grievances  of  the  Regulators  were  excessive  taxes,  dis- 
honest sheriff's,  and  extortionate  fees.'  Each  of  these  was 
made  more  intense  by  the  scarcity  of  money.  The  stamp-act 
trouble  does  not  seem  to  have  had  any  immediate  influence  on 
this  movement.  That  the  people  of  the  back  country  sympa- 
thized with  the  Sods  of  Liberty  and  could  have  been  aroused 
to  help  them  had  the  discontent  spread  from  the  Cape  Fear 
inward  is  undoubtedly  true,  but  this  whole  movement  passed 
over  before  the  Regulation  came  into  existence.2 

The  charge  of  excessive  taxation  was  only  relatively  true. 
Taxes  were  apportioned  by  the  poll.  A  taxable  was  an  adult 
white  man  or  an  adult  black  man  or  woman.  A  rich  man  thus 
paid  no  more  than  a  poor  man  in  actual  money.  This  injustice 
was  emphasized  as  between  the  east  and  the  west  by  the 
fact  that  the  wealthy  gentlemen  of  the  former  section  relied  on 
slave  labor,  while  slaves  were  comparatively  few  in  the  west. 

The  manner  of  collecting  taxes  made  the  burden  still 
heavier.  The  tax  bills,  although  questioned  by  the  Regula- 
tors, seem  to  have  been  correct.3  In  a  frontier  region,  where 
money  was  scarce  and  local  trading  was  confined  almost 
entirely  to  barter,  it  was  not  always  convenient  for  the  farmers 
to  keep  money  in  their  homes.  But  throughout  the  country 
there  were  men  who  lent  small  sums  to  the  countrymen  when 
there  was  a  sudden  demand  for  cash.     Consequently,  when  the 


1  In  1771  Governor  Martin  said  that  he  was  told  on  every  side  that  a 
chief  cause  of  these  trouhles  was  the  fact  that  Earl  Granville  had  no 
agent  in  the  colony  who  would  give  deeds  for  his  lands.  The  settlers 
accordingly  took  possession  of  the  lands,  but  refused  to  pay  taxes  for  the 
same.  This  caused  trouble  with  the  sheriffs.  (Colonial  Records.  IX,  49.) 
Granville's  land  office  was  closed  from  1765  (lb.,  VIII,  195),  and  it  is  likely 
enough  that  the  result  was  as  just  stated,  but  the  fact  that  in  the  many 
statements  of  the  questions  at  issue  no  prominence  is  given  by  either  side 
to  this  cause  is  the  author's  justification  for  not  putting  it  into  the  body 
of  his  text. 

2  It  is  well  to  remember,  also,  that  the  leaders  of  the  resistance  to  the 
stamp  act  were  among  those  who  afterwards  were  most  active  to  suppress 
the  Regulation. 

'The  tax  bill  for  1767  was  7s.,  besides  county  and  parish  dues.  This  is 
whatTryon  told  the  Regulators  (Colonial  Records,  VII,  794),  and  from  the 
items  in  the  bill  for  1768  it  foots  up  the  same  amount.  (lb.,  VII,  772,  773.) 
Here  it  seems  there  are  two  bills,  the  latter  of  which  is  that  for  1768.  The 
items  in  the  bills  were  referred  to  the  laws  authorizing  them. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        151 

sheriff  would  come  unexpectedly  to  the  taxpayer,  the  latter 
would  propose  to  get  the  money  if  the  officer  would  accom- 
pany him  to  the  home  of  this  neighborhood  banker.  The 
officer  usually  refused  to  do  this  and  proceeded  to  distrain  on 
some  property,  taking  a  fee  of  2s.  8d.  for  the  same.  The  tax- 
payer would  then  hasten  to  his  neighbor's,  secure  the  needed 
money,  and  hurry  after  the  sheriff.  That  officer  would  take  a 
different  route  than  the  one  he  had  promised  to  take,  and  the 
luckless  pursuer  would  arrive  in  Hillsboro  in  time  to  see  his 
property  sold  to  some  friend  of  the  officer's  for  much  less  than 
its  value.  The  Regulators  charged  that  officers  played  into 
each  others  hands  for  this  purpose,  and  that  there  were  men  in 
Hillsboro  who  had  made  large  sums  by  dealing  in  such  business. 
The  sheriffs  were  thought  to  have  taken  another  step  in 
defiance  of  popular  justice  when  the  assembly  in  1768  passed 
a  law  requiring  the  sheriffs  to  attend  five  different  places  in 
each  county,  at  least  two  days  in  each  place,  during  January 
and  February  of  each  year,  in  order  to  collect  the  taxes.  If 
the  officer  found  it  necessary  to  call  at  the  home  of  the  rate- 
payer for  his  due,  he  took  an  extra  fee  for  doing  it.  The  peo- 
ple of  Orange  regarded  this  law  as  passed  at  the  instigation 
of  the  sheriffs.  Husband  declared '  that  the  sheriff  insulted 
the  people  in  it,  and  added  that  the  officer  "  might  have  said 
the  asses  were  obliged  to  bring  their  burdens  to  him  in  order 
that  one  of  his  deputies  might  collect  the  whole  in  ten  days, 
sitting  on  his  breech,  at  ease,  in  five  places  only."2 


1  Wheeler,  History  of  North  Carolina,  II,  305,  and  Colonial  Records, 

VII,  771,  772. 

2  It  has  been  stated  that  the  tax  for  the  governor's  palace,  which  was 
erected  in  Newhern  in  1765-1770  at  a  cost  of  £15,000,  had  much  to  do  with 
working  np  the  discontent  that  culminated  in  the  Regulation.  There  is, 
however,  no  evidence  that  the  palace  deserves  so  much  distinction. 
Among  all  of  their  complaints  the  Regulators  refer  to  it  only  rarely.  They 
seem  to  have  considered  this  a  slight  abuse  as  compared  with  other  mat- 
ters. (Cf.  also  Caruthers:  Life  of  Caldwell,  p.  106.)  It  is  also  stated  at 
times  that  the  expense  of  running  the  Cherokee  boundary  line  was  a 
cause  of  the  Regulation ;  but  there  is  very  slight  reference  to  it  in  the 
published  complaints  of  the  Regulators.  The  fact  that  Maurice  Moore  in 
his  "Atticus"  letter  arraigned  Tryon  for  these  two  pieces  of  extravagance 
seems  to  have  led  most  writers  to  assume  that  these  were  important  causes 
of  the  troubles  that  came  later.  Moore  served  agaiust  the  Regulators,  and 
his  letter  indicates  that  he  hardly  understood  the  movement.  He  cer- 
tainly does  not  say  that  the  Regulators  considered  the  two  occurrences 
just   cited   as  efficient   causes   of   their  oppression.     (Colonial   Records, 

VIII,  718.) 


152  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

Another  very  prominent  grievance  was  the  dishonesty  of 
the  sheriffs,  who  failed  to  pay  into  the  hands  of  the  public 
treasury  the  money  they  had  collected.  The  public  accounts 
were  most  inefficiently  kept.  There  was  a  prevalent  opinion 
among  all  classes  that  there  was  fraud  just  here.  In  1707 
Governor  Tryon  declared  it  as  his  opinion  that  "  the  sheriffs 
have  embezzled  more  than  one-half  of  the  public  money 
ordered  to  be  raised  and  collected  by  them." '  This,  he  said, 
was  due  to  the  remissness  of  the  treasurers,  who  feared  to  sue 
the  sheriffs,  lest  the  friends  of  these  latter  should  combine  to 
defeat  the  treasurers  of  re-election.  He  made  several  attempts 
to  secure  a  statement  of  all  such  arrears,  and  finally  in  1760 
John  Burgwin  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  statement  of  the 
condition  of  the  public  accounts.-  In  the  following  year  he 
made  his  report,3  when  it  appeared  that  the  several  sheriffs 
were  in  arrears  to  the  extent  of  £40,000.4  Many  counties 
were  iu  arrears  for  ten  years,  and  some  accounts  reached  back 
to  1751.  A  good  deal  of  this  was  reported  as  worthless.  In 
some  instances  neither  principal  nor  securities  were  worth 
anything,  and  at  times  they  had  all  run  away.  More  than 
half  of  the  amount  in  arrears,  however,  was  reported  good. 
This  was  especially  true  of  the  eastern  counties,  which  were 
generally  paid  up  until  1705.  The  bad  debts  and  the  long- 
arrears  were  mostly  in  the  frontier  counties — that  is  to  say,  in 
Anson,  Orange,  Johnston,  Eowan,  Cumberland,  and  Dobbs. 

The  failure  to  pay  into  the  treasury  the  amount  collected 
led  to  an  irritating  misunderstanding  between  the  governor 
and  the  assembly.  In  1700  the  provincial  government  issued 
£12,000  in  currency,  to  be  redeemed  by  a  poll  tax  of  Is.  levied 
each  year  till  the  whole  amount  was  sunk.  The  following  year 
£20,000  was  issued,  to  be  redeemed  by  a  poll  tax  of  2s.  In 
1768  the  assembly,  after  trying  in  vain  to  get  a  new  issue  of 

1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  497;  also,  VIII,  105. 

2  lb.,  VII,  981. 

3  lb.,  VIII,  278-281. 

4  This  is  the  amount  due  for  years  preceding  1770.  There  was  about 
£15,000  due  for  that  year,  but  the  report  being  made  out  in  that  year 
many  sheriffs,  especially  those  inclined  to  pay  slowly,  had  perhaps  not 
had  full  opportunity  to  settle  with  the  treasurers  when  the  report  was 
gotten  up.  To  include  tbe  amount  for  this  year  is  therefore  hardly  fair  to 
the  sheriffs.  The  assembly  of  1771,  second  session,  decided  to  distribute 
in  the  counties  printed  copies  of  Burg  win's  report.  (lb.,  IX,  124.)  At  the 
same  time  they  ordered  the  treasurers  to  prosecute  the  delinquents.  (lb., 
IX,  217.)  As  a  result  a  fair  proportion  of  the  arrears  was  collected.  (lb., 
IX,  572-57(5.) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        153 

paper  currency, resolved  that  enough  money  bad  been  collected 
to  redeem  these  two  issues,  and  tbat  consequently  tbe  sberiffs 
should  no  longer  collect  these  two  items  in  the  tax  bill.1  By 
this  means  they  thought  they  would  lessen  taxation  and  pre- 
vent the  volume  of  currency  from  decreasing.  The  governor, 
however,  vetoed  this  resolution,  because,  as  he  said,  he  had  not 
seen  a  statement  of  the  moneys  paid  into  the  sinking  fund.2 
Two  years  later  such  a  statement  was  prepared,  and  it  shows 
that  at  the  time  in  question  but  little  over  £25,000  had  been 
burnt  since  1700/  so  that  if  they  had  devoted  all  moneys  col- 
lected for  the  sinking  fund  to  redeeming  the  two  issues  just 
mentioned  there  would  still  have  been  nearly  £7,000  unre- 
deemed.4 The  failure  of  the  governor  to  agree  with  the  res- 
olution to  cease  to  collect  the  3s.  as  indicated  caused  a  clash 
in  the  authority  of  government  and  gave  rise  to  a  great  deal 
of  misgiving  among  the  people.5  Had  the  sheriffs  paid  in 
their  arrears  this  trouble  would  have  been  avoided. 

Extortionate  fees  was  perhaps  the  greatest  grievance  of  all. 
Nearly  all  the  officers  were  paid  in  fees.  The  people  of  Che 
back  counties  complained  heavily  of  their  officers,  and  in  sup- 
port of  their  complaint  the  Orange  County  Eegulators  pro- 
duced affidavits  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  most  skeptical  that 
they  were  right.6  As  soon  as  counties  were  organized  on  the 
frontier  sheriffs,  clerks,  registers,  and  lawyers  swooped  down 
upon  the  defenseless  inhabitants  like  wolves.  Further  than 
this,  the  people  charged  that  the  superior  and  county  courts 
conspired  to  aid  the  officers  in  escaping  punishment.  The  fee 
of  a  lawyer  was  fixed  by  law,  but,  like  usury  laws  of  our  own 
day,  it  was  difficult  to  enforce  this  law.  The  officers  would 
manage  to  resolve  a  service  for  which  a  fixed  fee  was  due 
into  two  or  more  services,  and  for  each  they  would  demand  a 
fee.  Both  lawyers  and  court  officials  were  thought  to  be  in 
collusion  to  postpone  cases  in  order  that  they  might  get  more 
fees.7    The  court  business  was  sadly  behind,  much  to  the  incon- 


i  Colonial  Records,  VII,  922,  923. 

2 lb.,  VII,  986. 

3 lb.,  VIII,  213-215. 

4Tbe  sinking  fund  received  money  as  follows:  Is.  to  sink  two  issues  in 
1748  and  1754 ;  Is.  for  the  issue  of  1760 ;  2s.  for  that  of  1761,  and  4d.  a  gallon 
on  imported  liquors.  Perhaps  not  more  than  one-half  of  this  fuud  should 
have  been  devoted  to  the  sinking  of  the  two  issues  m  question. 

5See  Husband's  account,  Wheeler,  II,  311. 

6  Colonial  Records,  VII,  771-782. 

'Governor  Martin,  in  1772,  supports  the  charge  of  malpractices  by  the 
lawyers.     ( lb,  IX,  340.) 


154  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

venience  of  the  people,  who  often  were  obliged  to  attend  at  a 
distance  of  from  30  to  60  miles.  This  was  true  to  such  an 
extent  that  in  1766  there  were  nearly  1,000  cases  on  the  docket 
of  Halifax  superior  court,  and  no  civil  causes  bad  been  tried  in 
any  court  in  the  province  for  six  months.1  The  governor  issued 
frequent  proclamations  to  prevent  illegal  fees,  but  without  avail. 

Connected  with  and  influencing  each  of  these  grievances  was 
that  of  the  general  scarcity  of  money.  The  English  colonial 
policy  had  the  effect  of  withdrawing  from  the  colonies  as 
much  gold  and  silver  as  possible.  So  scarce  did  this  money 
become  that  in  1765  Governor  Tryon  said  that  there  was  only 
enough  of  it  in  the  colony  to  pay  for  the  stamps  which  under 
the  Stamp  Act  would  be  required  on  the  instruments  of  writing 
used  in  one  year  in  the  superior  courts  of  the  province.2  The 
people  desired  to  issue  a  paper  currency  sufficient  in  amount 
for  the  demands,  but  were  restrained  by  an  act  of  Parliament 
made  for  the  protection  of  British  merchants,  which  forbade 
the  colonies  to  issue  legal-tender  paper.  The  assembly  peti- 
tioned the  King  for  a  relaxation  of  this  injunction,  but  was  un- 
successful. Distress  was  everywhere;  but  in  the  east,  where 
there  were  public  warehouses  for  receiving  commodities,  it 
was  less  than  in  the  west,  where  there  were  none;  because  the 
people  used  the  warehouse  certificates  as  a  medium  of  ex- 
change among  themselves.  An  inhabitant  of  Orange  related 
that  at  this  time  he  had  accompanied  his  father  with  a  load  of 
wheat  to  Cross  Creek,  now  Fayetteville,  where  they  received  5s. 
a  bushel  for  the  grain,  but  could  get  only  one-fifth  of  the  price 
in  cash.  His  father  returned  home  with  40s.  and  was  able  to 
pay  his  tax,  which  was  more  than  his  neighbors  could  do.3 

All  this  was  caused  chiefly  by  a  most  shortsighted  financial 
policy  on  the  part  of  the  provincial  government.  During  the 
times  of  the  French  and  Indian  war  the  colony  had  made  re- 
peated issues  of  currency.  After  peace  was  declared  in  1 763 
this  began  rapidly  to  be  redeemed.  So  sudden  and  wide  an 
extension  of  the  money  medium  was  bad  in  itself;  but  when  in 
the  face  of  an  immense  tide  of  immigration  the  currency  began 
rapidly  to  contract  the  effect  was  calamitous.     An  idea  of  this 

1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  200,  201. 

2 lb.,  VII,  144. 

3  Caruthers's  Life  of  Caldwell,  page  113.  Colonel  Saunders,  with  a  singu- 
lar lack  of  insight,  says  that  this  wheat  was  sold  for  a  shilling  a  bushel. 
Why  he  should  have  said  nothing  of  the  4  shillings  in  barter  given  also  for 
each  bushel  is  incomprehensible.     (Cf.  Colonial  Records,  VII,  p.  xix.) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        155 

may  be  gotten  from  the  fact  that  in  1708  while  the  amount  of 
mouey  was  decreasing  about  10  per  cent  a  year  the  population 
was  increasing  about  7  per  cent  a  year.1 

The  inhabitants  of  the  back  counties,  isolated  from,  and  out 
of  sympathy  with,  the  dominant  class  in  the  province,  were  thus 
ready  material  to  the  hand  of  the  political  agitator.  Weighed^ 
down  by  improperly  adjusted  taxes,  dishonest  officers,  exces- 
sive fees,  and  an  insufficient  currency,  the  people  only  awaited 
the  appearance  of  a  leader  under  whom  they  might  range 
themselves  in  opposition  to  their  oppressors.  The  first  man 
to  appear  in  this  capacity  was  Hermon  Husband.2 

THE   LEADERS, 

Husband  was  born  in  Cecil  County,  Md.,  October  3,  1724.3 
His  family  were  Episcopalians,  but  Hermon  with  some  other 
members  of  the  family  became  Quakers.4  He  moved  to  North 
Carolina  and  settled  at  Sandy  Creek,  then  in  Orange  County, 
but  now  in  the  northeastern  part  of  Randolph.  Here  he 
accumulated  considerable  property.  Our  knowledge  of  him 
indicates  that  he  was  industrious,  shrewd,  honest,  and  much 
more  intelligent  than  the  average  man  of  his  neighborhoods 
By  his  neighbors  he  was  reported  to  have  been  either  related 
to,  or  connected  with,  Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin.  It  is  in  evi- 
dence that  he  kept  up  a  correspondence  with  this  patriotic 
Quaker  through  John  Wilcox,  a  merchant  of  Cross  Creek, 
who  went  to  Philadelphia  twice  a  year  to  buy  goods.  In  this 
way  he  received  many  political  pamphlets  of  a  patriotic  char- 
acter which  he  reprinted  and  circulated  among  the  people. 
He  got  the  credit  of  writing  some  of  these,  but  it  does  not  ap- 
pear that  he  claimed  the  authorship  of  any  of  them.6  The  only 
one  of  these  of  which  we  have  any  definite  account  is  a  collec- 

'  Cf.  Colonial  Records,  VII,  145,  288,  289,  and  539,  with  VIII,  215. 

2  This  spelling  is  used  advisedly.  Mr.  Jacob  L.  Husband,  of  Baltimore,  a 
relative  of  Hermon  Husband,  has  a  deed  written  and  signed  by  Hermon 
Husband  on  January  7,  1769,  in  which  the  spelling  is  as  here  given. 

3Penn.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  April,  1886,  p.  119. 

4  Dr.  S.  B.  Weeks,  who  has  examined  the  records  of  the  Quakers,  has 
informed  the  writer  that  Husband  was  expelled  from  that  organization, 
not  because  he  was  immoral,  but  because  of  divergence  of  views.  This 
statement  is  also  in  advance  of  Dr.  Weeks's  forthcoming  book. 

6  The  deed  referred  to  in  note  1  was  written  by  himself  and  is  in  good 
form,  showing  some  legal  knowledge. 

6Caruthers's  Life  of  Caldwell,  pp.  119, 120. 


156  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

tion  called  "  Sermons  to  asses."  It  is  adapted  from  a  pro- 
duction of  an  English  clergyinau  of  republican  tendencies  and 
was  published  without  the  name  of  the  author  or  editoi.1  Two 
sermons  were  on  the  nature  of  asses.  One  was  from  the  text: 
"Issachar  is  a  strong  ass,  crouching  down  between  two  bur- 
dens. And  he  saw  that  rest  was  good,  and  the  land  that  it 
was  pleasant;  and  he  bowed  his  shoulder  to  bear  and  became 
a  servant  to  tribute."  The  other  was  based  on  the  biblical 
story  of  Balaam  and  his  ass.  Each  contained  homely  truths 
vigorously  stated.2 

Husband's  part  in  the  Regulation  has  been  overestimated. 
He  was  essentially  an  agitator,  and  his  plan  seems  to  have 
been  to  effect  reform  by  means  of  public  sentiment.  When  it 
became  evident  that  the  movement  was  running  into  violence 
he  held  aloof  from  it,  only  exerting  himself  to  restrain  excesses 
and  to  make  peace.3  His  activity  as  a  pamphleteer  had  given 
him  such  a  reputation  that  it  wTas  impossible  to  convince  the 
provincial  government  that  he  was  not  the  chief  leader  of  the 
popular  side.  The  officeholders  produced  affidavits  to  show 
that  he  was  in  the  crowd  that  perpetrated  the  Hillsboro  riots;4 
but  whether  or  not  he  helped  to  administer  the  thrashings 
that  some  received  the  deponents  did  not  say.  The  fact  that 
when  a  short  time  afterwards  he  was  expelled  from  the  assem- 
bly for  printing  a  libelous  letter  to  Maurice  Moore  no  charge 
was  made  in  connection  with  this  riot  may,  perhaps,  be  owing 
to  lack  of  evidence  on  this  subject.5  Had  it  been  at  all  sure 
that  he  was  concerned  in  the  riots,  he  would  likely  have  been 
so  charged  in  the  indictment.  He  was  with  the  Regulators 
on  the  morning  of  the  battle  on  the  Alamance  endeavoring 
to  bring  about  an  adjustment.  When  he  saw  that  this  was 
impossible  he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  away.  Some  have 
attributed  this  to  cowardice,  but  it  is  noticeable  that  none 
*-**/  of  the  writers  who  have  talked  with  surviving  Regulators 
have  said  that  the  Regulators  accused  him  of  deserting  their 


1  It  was  erroneously  supposed  to  have  been  adapted  from  Dr.  Franklin's 
tract,  "  State  affairs." 

2 These  two  sermons  nre  abridged  in  Revolutionary  History  of  North 
Carolina  (W.  D.  Cooke,  ed.),  pages  19-28. 

'•In  1768  the  Regulators  declared  that  he  was  a  "gentleman  that  had 
never  joined  the  Regulators,  had  never  been  concerned  in  any  tumults, 
and  whose  only  crime  was  being  active  in  trying  to  bring  on  the  intended 
settlement."     (Colonial  Records,  VII,  765.) 

4  lb.,  VIII,  245-247. 

5  lb.,  VIII,  268,269. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        157 

cause.  It  is  more  probable  that  his  whole  conduct  was  iu 
keeping  with  his  Quaker  principles  of  not  actively  participat- 
ing in  a  fight.  He  was  twice  elected  to  the  assembly,  being 
expelled  during  his  second  term,  and  when  the  officers  of  Rowan 
County  agreed  to  leave  the  dispute  between  themselves  and 
the  Regulators  to  a  committee  of  arbitration  he  was  put  on 
that  committee.1  To  escape  Tryon's  wrath  he  fled  the  colony 
and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  western  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  was  prominently  implicated  in  the  whisky  rebellion. 
He  was  captured,  tried,  and  condemned  to  death,  but  was  . 
released  through  the  intercession  of  friends.  He  died  before 
he  could  reach  his  home.2 

There  is  no  one  who  can  be  called  a  preeminent  leader  of  the 
Regulation.  Perhaps  this  is  one  cause  of  its  failure.  On  the 
morning  of  the  battle,  when  no  one  was  found  to  command  the 
people,  some  asked  James  Hunter  to  take  command.  His 
answer  was  characteristic  both  of  himself  and  of  the  move- 
ment: "  We  are  all  freemen,  and  everyone  must  command  him-  t* 
self."3  Re4irap__Hi)wjell,  James  Hunter,  and  William  Butler 
were  leading  spirits;  yet  there  were,  perhaps,  others  as  prom- 
inent as  themselves.  Hunter  was  spoken  of  as  their  "gen- 
eral."4 Rednap  Howell  deserves  to  be  mentioned  as  the  bard 
of  the  movement.  He  was  from  New  Jersey  and  was  a  school- 
master. WTith  his  homely  songs  he  soon  set  the  entire  country- 
side singing  at  the  expense  of  Fanning,  Frohock,  and  others 
of  their  associates.5 


1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  521. 

2  See  Caruthers  :  Life  of  Caldwell,  pages  166-168. 
3 lb.,  p.  163. 

iColonial  Records,  IX,  269. 

5 The  following  will  suffice  as  specimens: 

When  Fanning  first  to  Orange  came 

He  looked  both  pale  and  wan, 
An  old  patched  coat  upon  his  back, 

An  old  mare  he  rode  on. 
Buth  man  and  mare  wa'n't  worth  five  pounds, 

As  I've  been  often  told, 
But  by  his  civil  robberies 
He's  laced  his  coat  with  gold. 

— Life  of  Caldwell,  page  116,  note. 
Also  this : 

Says  Frohawk  to  Fanning,  to  tell  the  plain  truth, 
When  I  came  to  this  country  I  was  but  a  youth ; 
My  father  sent  for  me ;  I  wa'n't  worth  a  cross : 
And  then  my  first  study  was  to  steal  for  a  horse. 
I  quickly  got  credit,  and  then  ran  away, 

And  hav'n't  paid  for  him  to  this  very  day.  —lb.,  page  130,  note. 

All  that  is  known  of  the  Regulators'  rhymes  is  reprinted  in  the  Raleigh 
Register,  June  2,  1825. 


158  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 


t 


\ 


The  most  prominent  leader  on  the  opposite  side  was  Gov- 
ernor Tryon.  Much  has  been  said  to  this  man's  discredit,  but 
perhaps  not  all  of  it  has  been  deserved.  So  far  as  the  records 
show  he  was  a  man  of  decided  executive  ability,  great  tact, 
broad  ideas,  and  much  firmness.  Like  Strafford,  his  public 
character  seems  to  be  summed  up  in  the  word  "thorough.'' 
Like  most  English  gentlemen  who  were  then  sent  to  govern 
colonies,  he  expected  to  make  money  by  the  office,  and  he 
doubtless  did  it.1  He  was  a  genuine  believer  in  the  King's 
prerogative,  and  as  governor  he  felt  bound  to  permit  nothing 
[that  would  detract  from  it.  From  his  standpoint  it  was 
enough  for  the  people  if  they  submitted  to  the  benign  rule  of 
ttie  fatherly  King.  [  He  came  to  enforce  this  kind  of  govern- 
ment and  at  the  same  time  to  build  up  his  private  fortune.  He 
found  that  the  officeholders  in  the  counties  were  the  friends  on 
whom  he  might  rely  to  accomplish  both  purposes.  He  felt 
drawn  to  them,  and  when  the  people  criticised  them  he  inter- 
fered in  their  behalf.  As  representatives  of  his  ideas  of  gov- 
ernment he  felt  that  they  must  be  sustained.  To  accomplish 
his  object  he  shrewdly,  and  perhaps  heartlessly,  used  the 
means  that  politicians  of  the  day  were  accustomed  to  use.  To 
his  mind  a  triumph  of  the  Regulators  would  have  been  the  first 
step  toward  undermining  the  royal  authority.  He  came  to 
]Sorth  Carolina  with  an  ambition  to  have  a  tranquil  adminis- 
tration in  what  had  hitherto  been  a  troublesome  colony.  His 
very  ideas  doomed  him  to  failure.  It  was  his  misfortune  to  be 
the  governor  just  at  the  time  when  quiet  was  impossible. 

Edmund. Eanning,  the  local  leader  of  the  opposition  to  the 
(  Regulators,  was  born  in  Connecticut  and  was  educated  at 
Yale  College.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  address  and  superior 
ability.  For  some  time  he  was  one  of  the  leading  men  in  the 
assembly,  and  seems  to  have  won  the  confidence  of  such  men 
as  Ashe,  Harvey,  Waddell,  Harnet,  Caswell,  and  Maurice 
Moore,  all  men  of  the  greatest  reputation  for  patriotism,  and 
whose  parts  in  the  Revolution  have  secured  for  them  considera- 
tion as  the  fathers  of  the  Republic.     Unfortunately  for  him  he 

1  In  1769  Lord  Hillsboro  told  Tryon  that  the  reason  he  had  not  named 
hini  for  the  governorship  of  New  York  was  that  he  had  learned  that  he 
(Tryon)  was  getting  more  in  North  Carolina  than  the  New  York  place  paid. 
(Colonial  Records,  VIII,  190, 191.) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA — BASSETT.        159 

belonged  to  the  office-holding  class,  and,  like  his  associates, 
stretched  his  authority  as  much  as  possible,  so  as  to  take 
more  money  from  the  people.  He  said  that  he  thought  he  had 
a  legal  right  to  take  all  he  did  take,  and  when  he  had  been 
convicted  the  best  experts  of  the  law  acquitted  him  of  any 
criminal  intent.  Still,  it  is  improbable  that  he  fooled  himself- 
in  such  a  manner  as  his  claim  would  imply.  He  was  most 
likely  a  full-fledged  office-holding  bird  of  prey,  no  better  and 
no  worse,  except  as  he  had  more  native  ability,  than  the 
other  members  of  the  political  cliques  in  the  back  counties. 

EARLY   DISPUTES. 

The  early  history  of  North  Carolina  was  not  a  quiet  one. 
Besides  the  so-called  Culpepper  and  Carey  rebellions,  which 
occurred  under  proprietary  rule,  there  had  been  several  dis- 
putes between  the  people  and  the  royal  authority. 1  While 
these  difficulties  have  no  direct  connection  with  the  Regula- 
tion,  they  show  that  the  spirit  of  independence  was  abroad  in 
the  colony  a  long  time  before  the  day  of  the  Regulators. 

A  notable  outbreak  of  this  spirit  occurred  in  Mecklen- 
burg County  on  the  7th  of  May,  1765.  George  Selwyn  held 
a  large  tract  of  land  in  this  region,  on  which  he  had  settled 
many  men  who  had  not  received  deeds  for  their  holdings.  In 
1764  Henry  Eustace  McCulloch  was  appointed  agent  for  Sel- 
wyn, with  instructions  to  survey  these  parcels  of  land,  and 
either  to  close  bargains  for  the  same  or  to  eject  those  who  held 
them.  McCulloch  announced  the  price  at  which  he  would 
receive  payment  for  the  land,  and  in  February,  1765,  went 
up  to  have  a  settlement.  The  settlers  indignantly  refused  to 
accept  the  proposition,  offered  him  a  smaller  price,  and  when 
he  refused  to  take  it  they  forbade  the  surveyors  to  lay  out  the 
holdings.  They  also  terrorized  those  who  were  willing  to  pay 
the  price  demanded,  and  declared  that  they  would  allow  no 
sheriff  to  eject  a  settler  for  not  paying  it. 2  Finally,  as  John 
Frohock,  Abraham  Alexander,  and  others  were  about  to  sur- 
vey a  piece  of  the  disputed  land  they  were  beset  by  the 
enraged  settlers  and  most  severely  thrashed. 3    This  brought 


1  See  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  pages  vii-x. 

2  lb.,  VII,  14-31. 

3  lb.,  VII,  32-34.  37. 


160  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

out  a  proclamation  from  the  governor,  which,  so  far  as  we 
know,  brought  quiet,  and  perhaps  the  success  of  McOulloek. l 

The  evidence  we  have  in  this  case  is  all  on  the  side  of  the 
agent,  and  it  is  accordingly  unsafe  to  say  who  was  in  the 
wrong.  At  its  face  value,  it  indicates  that  McCulloch  was  act- 
ing entirely  within  his  legal  rights.  -  The  incident  is  of  impor- 
tance only  as  revealing  the  turbulent  spirits  of  the  backwoods- 
men and  their  vigorous  method  of  redressing  grievances. 

This  same  spirit  was  strong  in  Granville  and  Halifax  coun- 
ties, where  it  was  directed  against  extortioning  officers.  On 
June  0,  1765,  it  took  a  long  forward  stride  when  a  gentleman 
of  the  Nutbush  section ?'  of  Granville  issued  what  has  been 
known  as  "The  ISTutbush  paper.'7  It  contained  "an  account 
of  the  deplorable  situation  we  suffer  *  *  *  and  some  nec- 
essary hints  with  respect  to  reformation."  The  grievances  of 
the  people  are  stated  as  follows : 

A  poor  man  is  supposed  to  have  given  Lis  judgment  bond  for  £5,  and 
this  bond  is  by  his  creditor  thrown  into  court.  The  clerk  of  the  county 
has  to  enter  it  on  the  docket  and  issue  execution,  the  work  of  one  long 
minute,  for  which  the  poor  man  has  to  pay  the  trifling  sum  of  41s.  5d. 
The  clerk,  in  consideration  he  is  a  poor  man,  takes  it  out  in  work  at  18d. 
a  day.  The  poor  man  works  some  more  than  twenty-seven  days  to  pay 
for  this  one  minute's  writing.  Well,  the  poor  man  reflects  thus :  At  this 
rate,  when  shall  I  get  to  labor  for  my  family?  I  have  a  wife- and  parcel 
of  small  children  suffering  at  home,  and  here  I  have  lost  a  whole  month, 
and  I  don't  know  for  what,  for  my  merchant  is  as  far  from  being  paid  yet 
as  ever.     However,  I  will  go  home  now  and  try  and  do  what  I  can.     Stay, 

neighbor,  you  have  not  half  done  yet.     There  is  a  d d  lawyer's  mouth 

to  stop  yet — for  you  empowered  him  to  confess  that  you  owed  ttiis  £5,  and 
you  have  30s.  to  pay  him  for  that,  and  go  and  work  nineteen  days  more; 
and  then  you  must  work  as  long  to  pay  the  sherifl'  for  his  trouble;  and 
then  you  may  go  home  to  see  your  horses  and  cow  sold,  and  all  your  per- 
sonal estate  for  one-tenth  part  of  the  value,  to  pay  ofl'  your  merchant. 
And  lastly,  if  the  debt  is  so  great  that  all  your  personal  estate  will  not  do 
to  raise  the  money — which  is  not  to  be  had — then  goes  your  lands  the  same 
way  to  satisfy  these  cursed  hungry  caterpillars  that  will  eat  out  the  very 
bowels  of  our  commonwealth  if  they  are  not  pulled  down  from  their  nests 
in  a  very  short  time. 


1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  38. 

2  When  the  settlers  petitioned  to  the  governor  and  council  for  justice, 
that  body  decided  that  the  affair  was  not  cognizable  before  them.  (lb., 
VII,  34,35.) 

3 The  name  Nutbush  is  employed  now  to  indicate  a  township,  a  Presby- 
terian church,  and  two  streams — Nutbush  and  Little  Nutbush  creeks — 
in  the  northern  part  of  what  is  now  Vance  and  Warren  counties.  Nut- 
bush Township  was  divided  by  the  boundary  line  of  these  two  counties. 
It  was  formerly  in  Granville.     (See  Schaeffer's  map  of  North  Carolina.) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        161 

The  author  called  on  all  the  gentlemen  of  Granville  to  help 
in  changing  this  condition  of  affairs.  All  were  cautioned  that 
if  they  tried  they  must  "be  careful  to  keep  sober,  nor  do  any- 
thing rashly''  or  "-against  the  known  established  laws  of  our 
land."  Who  this  author  was  is  not  known.  He  succeeded  in 
getting  up  a  petition  to  the  assembly  for  redress  of  grievances, 
but  nothing  came  of  it.  The  officers  retorted  by  suing  the 
subscribers  for  libel  and  by  having  the  author  of  the  paper 
indicted  and  imprisoned.  When  Husband  wrote,  perhaps  1769, 
the  suits  were  still  in  court.1  Of  so  little  consequence  was 
the  whole  affair  that  knowledge  of  it  did  not  reach  Orange, 
the  adjoining  county,  until  1767.  It  is  chiefly  important  as 
illustrating  the  political  condition  of  the  back  country  in  the 
time  just  preceding  the  outbreak  of  the  Regulation. 

This  was  not  the  only  manifestation  of  the  spirit  of  discon- 
tent. According  to  Husband,  Brunswick,  Cumberland,  and 
other  counties  refused  to  pay  their  taxes  as  early  as  1766.  Of 
the  results  of  these  refusals  we  know  nothing.  From  1766  on 
all  minor  discontent  is  swallowed  up  by  the  events  which  soon 
called  the  attention  chiefly  to  Orange  and  adjacent  counties. 
It  is  to  these  events  that  we  shall  direct  our  attention. 

THE  SANDY  CREEK  ORGANIZATION. 

What  is  usually  spoken  of  as  the  Regulation  in  Orange  is 
really  two  distinct  movements.  The  one  we  may  call  the  Sandy 
Creek  Organization  because  it  originated  chiefly  with  Sandy 
Creek  men ;  the  other  is  the  Regulation  proper.  The  former 
represented  a  mild  but  firm  protest  against  the  wrongdoing  of 
the  officers  and  its  transactions  are  summed  up  in  the  papers 
usually  known  as  the  Regulators'  Advertizements  1,  II,  and 
III.2  The  latter  replaced  the  former.  It  was  first  known  as 
"The  Mob," but  soon  took  the  name  "Regulation,"  from  a  South 
Carolina  organization.  It  grew  up  when  the  former  had  failed 
and  was  dominated  by  a  more  turbulent  spirit  than  was  coun 
tenanced  by  the  Sandy  Creek  organization.  It  eventually  ran 
into  such  excesses  that  the  militia  of  the  province  was  called 
out  twice  against  it. 

The  Sandy  Creek  movement  began  late  in  August,  1766^ 
when  at  a  county  court  there  was  issued  a  call  for  each  neigh- 
borhood to  send  delegates  to  a  meeting  "  at  some  place  where 

1  Wheeler:  History  of  North  Carolina,  II,  301,  302. 

2  These  are  found  in  Wheeler,  II,  302,  304  and  Colonial  Records,  VII,  249, 
251,  252. 

H.  Mis.  91 11 


162  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

there  is  uo  liquor  (at  Maddock's  Mill,  if  no  objection),  at  which 
meeting  let  it  be  judiciously  inquired  whether  the  free  men  of 
this  county  labor  under  any  abuses  of  power  or  not,  and  let 
the  same  be  notified  in  writing  if  any  is  found,  and  the  matter 
freely  conversed  upon,  and  proper  measures  used  for  amend- 
ment."1 This  call  was  read  in  court,  whereupon  the  officers 
present  acknowledged  that  it  was  reasonable,  and  Thomas 
Lloyd,  one  of  the  assemblymen  of  Orange,  "declared  his  ap- 
probation of  it "  and  suggested  October  10  as  a  convenient 
day  for  the  meeting.2 

It  is  of  advantage  to  note  the  relation  of  this  movement  to 
the  stamp-act  resistance.     The  call  begins: 

Whereas  that  great  good  may  come  of  this  great  designed  evil,  the 
stamp  law,  while  the  Sons  of  Liberty  withstood  the  lords  in  Parliament 
in  behalf  of  true  liberty,  let  not  officers  under  them  carry  on  unjust 
oppression  in  our  own  province. 

Iii  closing,  the  paper  says : 

Take  this  as  a  maxim,  that  while  men  are  men,  though  you  should  see 
all  those  Sons  of  Liberty  (who  has  just  now  redeemed  us  from  tyranny) 
set  in  offices  and  vested  with  power,  they  would  soon  corrupt  again  and 
oppress  if  they  were  not  called  upon  to  give  an  account  of  their  steward- 
ship. 

This  passage  indicates  the  sympathy  between  the  Sandy 
Creek  men  and  the  Sons  of  Liberty.  This  was  possibly  due  to 
the  influence  of  Husband,  whose  correspondence  with  Franklin 
made  him  a  center  of  patriotic  ideas  of  a  revolutionary  nature. 
There  is  no  evidence  of  any  connection  between  the  Regula- 
tion proper  and  the  stamp-act  troubles. 

The  idea  of  giving  an  account  of  their  stewardship  gave  the 
officers  an  excuse  for  not  going  to  the  meeting  at  Maddock's 
Mill;  for  although  they  had  at  first  promised  to  go,  yet  when 
on  October  10  twelve  delegates  were  met  there  the  officers 
sent  a  messenger  to  say  that  they  had  decided  not  to  attend, 
because  the  meeting  claimed  the  authority  to  call  them  (the 
officers)  to  account.  The  messenger  further  announced  that 
Colonel  Fanning  considered  the  meeting  an  insurrection. 

The  meeting,  however,  proceeded  to  draw  up  a  paper,  the 
chief  features  of  which  were  as  follows :  Since  the  county  was 
so  large  that  not  more  than  one-tenth  of  the  voters  could  know 
in  a  reliable  manner  the  qualifications  of  any  man,  it  was 


1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  250. 

*  Husband.     (See  Wheeler,  II,  303.) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        163 

deemed  right  that  there  should  be  an  annual  meeting  similar 
to  the  one  then  convened,  so  that  the  people  might  investigate 
the  actions  of  their  representatives,  and  that  the  representa- 
tives might  know  the  wishes  of  their  constituency.  Inasmuch 
as  the  matter  was  new  in  Orange,  "  though  practiced  in  older 
governments,"  it  was  hoped  that  the  officers  would  in  time  be 
more  willing  to  submit  their  conduct  to  these  meetings,  and 
that  the  people  could  be  brought  to  support  the  movement 
more  firmly.  This  paper  was  read  to  the  messenger,  who  "  said 
that  it  was  so  just  and  reasonable  that  no  man  could  object 
to  it."  A  copy  was  given  to  him,  which  he  agreed  to  deliver  to 
the  officers.1  \ 

The  claim  that  representatives  are  responsible  to  their  con- 
stituencies was  at  that  time  an  innovation  in  the  politics  of  the 
"back  counties"  of  North  Carolina.  From  the  point  of  view  of ' 
the  officeholders  it  could  not  be  allowed.  Accordingly  Colonel 
Fanning,  either  at  the  next  county  or  general  muster,  read  a 
paper  "in  repugnance  to  our  requests."  Husband  did  not 
know  its  contents.  Fanning  claimed  that  he  had  served  it  on 
the  Sandy  Creek  men,  but  Husband  says  none  of  them  ever 
saw  it.  It  was  probably  but  a  more  formal  statement  of  Fan- 
ning's  charge  that  the  measures  proposed  were  insurrectionary. 
Further  than  this,  the  officers  made  threats  against  the  chief 
men  of  the  movement,  and  when  £50  had  been  collected  to 
prosecute  the  offending  officers  it  was  found  that  the  only 
lawyer  on  whom  they  could  rely  declined  to  take  the  case.  In 
1767  two  men,  one  a  justice  of  the  county  court,  purchased 
jointly  a  copy  of  the  revision  of  the  laws  of  the  province.2  Two 
others  copied  from  it  the  fees  for  registering  conveyances  and 
went  before  the  court  to  register  some  deeds.  The  fees  charged 
they  thought  to  be  illegal.  They  protested,  but  being  threat- 
ened with  arrest  for  contempt  of  court,  they  thought  best  to 
desist.  The  justice  who  was  half  owner  of  the  law  book  then 
went  to  his  partner,  who  had  brought  the  book  to  the  court, 
and  asked  him  to  be  cautious  how  he  lent  it  out.  This  he  did; 
because  there  were  so  few  of  these  books  in  this  section  that 
the  court  would  easily  know  who  had  lent  one  of  them.  To 
this  statement  Husband  adds:  "Thus  we  may  see  how  he 
apprehended  himself  under   a  necessity  to  conceal  his  good 


> 


J  Colonial  Records,  VII,  251,  252,  and  Wheeler,  II,  304. 
2  Davis's  Revision,  1765. 


164  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

offices  and  honesty  to  secure  himself  in  office,  but  I  suppose  he 
was  found  out,  for  he  was  soon  afterwards  put  out  of  commis- 
sion." All  these  obstacles  so  discouraged  the  people  that  the 
Sandy  Creek  men  abandoned  their  association.1  Thus  termi- 
nated the  first  movement  against  the  officers. 

THE   REGULATION  PROPER. 

It  was  not  till  the  spring  of  1768  that  any  further  organized 
resistance  was  made  to  Fanning  and  his  associates.  The  im- 
mediate cause  of  this  resistance  was  a  notice  posted  by  the 
sheriff  of  Orange,  stating  that  he  would,  according  to  law, 
receive  taxes  at  five  specified  places,  and  for  all  not  paid  there 
he  would  distrain  at  a  cost  of  2s.  8d.  for  each  distress.2  Many 
people  considered  this  a  misinterpretation  or  a  violation  of  the 
law.  Along  with  it  came  the  rumor  that  the  assembly  had  given 
the  governor  £15,000  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  residence.3 
The  two  affairs  combined  to  bring  about  a  new  association,  at 
first  known  as  "The  Mob,"  but  later  called  "  The  Regulation." 4 
The  movement  did  not  begin  in  the  Sandy  Creek  neighbor- 
hood, but  it  spread  rapidly.  The  Sandy  Creek  men  refused  to 
join,  "because  it  was  too  hot  and  rash,  and  in  some  respects 
not  legal."     They  tried  to  guide  the  movement  and  to  modify 


1  This  account  follows  Husbaud.     See  Wheeler,  II,  302,  303. 

2  A  careful  examination  of  the  law  then  in  force  fails  to  show  any 
authority  for  this  assertion.     Laws  of  1768,  ch.  6. 

3  Affairs  were  further  aggravated  by  the  fact  that  the  sheriff  at  hist 
demanded  8s.  4d.,  which  souie  paid.  Later  Fanning  arrived  and  said  that 
the  tax  should  be  10s.  8d.  Many  paid  this  with  much  complaining.  The 
people  had  lost  confidence  in  their  leaders,  and  not  being  able  to  find  in 
the  law  books  the  specified  tax  bills,  declared  they  were  being  defrauded. 
(Colonial  Records,  VII,  763,764.)  This  was  an  error.  Colonial  Records, 
VII,  772,  gives  the  items  of  this  tax  of  10s.  8d.,  and  a  comparison  with  the 
laws  in  Davis's  Collections  of  1765  and  1771  shows  that  the  items  as  given 
in  the  posted  notice  were  correct.  (Collection  of  1765,  Vol.  1, 146;  Vol.  II, 
22, 192,  and  222.)  The  tax  to  defray  contingent  expenses  is_eited  incorrectly. 
Instead  of  being  1748  it  should  have  been  1767-68.  It  was  passed  in  1759 
for  four  years.  In  1761  it  was  supplemented  by  2s.  tax.  The  original 
tax  was  continued  in  1764  (chap.  8)  and  again  in  1767-68  (chap.  18). 

4  The  name  Regulation  was  taken  from  a  South  Carolina  organization 
formed  to  protect  the  people  against  the  depredations  of  a  lawless  band 
known  (from  their  leader,  Colonel  Schovel)  as  Schofilites.  The  affair 
was  settled  when  the  province  established  courts  in  the  back  counties, 
thus  allowing  the  Schofilites  to  be  brought  to  justice.  (Quoted  by  Gover- 
nor Swain  from  Johnson's  Traditions  and  Reminiscences.  University 
Magazine,  X,  134, 135.) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.         165 

its  intemperance.  A  violent  paper  had  been  prepared  and  sent 
to  the  officers,1  but  these  milder  men  persuaded  the  angered 
people  to  have  another  meeting,  at  which  a  new  agreement,  was 
drawn  np,  as  follows: 

y/  We,  the  subscribers,  do  voluntarily  agree  to  form  ourselves  into  an 
association,  to  assemble  ourselves  for  conference  for  regulating  public 
grievances  and  abuses  of  power,  in  the  following  particulars,  with  others 
of  a  like  nature  that  may  occur:  (1)  We  will  pay  no  more  taxes  until  we 
are  satisfied  that  they  are  agreeable  to  law,  and  applied  to  the  purposes 
tnerein  mentioned,  unless  we  can  not  help  it,  or  are  forced.  (2)  We  will 
pay  no  officer  any  more  fees  than  the  law  allows,  unless  we  are  obliged  to 
do  it,  and  then  to  show  our  dislike  and  bear  open  testimony  against  it.  (3) 
We  will  attend  all  our  meetings  of  conferences  as  often  as  we  conveniently 
can,  etc.  (4)  We  will  contribute  to  collections  for  defraying  necessary 
expenses  attending  the  work,  according  to  our  abilities.  (5)  In  case  of 
difference  in  judgment  we  will  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  majority  of 
our  body.-         Hj 

The  former  of  these  papers  was  received  by  the  officers 
with  a  storm  of  indignation,  the  burden  of  which  fell  on  the 
Sandy  Creek  men,  who,  from  their  association  with  the  other 
affair,  were  never  able  to  separate  themselves,  in  the  minds 

'This  paper  read  as  follows:  "Whereas  the  taxes  in  the  county  are 
larger,  according  to  the  number  of  taxables,  than  adjacent  counties,  and 
continues  so  year  after  year,  and  as  the  jealousy  still  prevails  amongst  us 
that  we  are  wronged,  and  having  the  more  reason  to  think  so  as  we  have 
been  at  the  trouble  of  choosing  men  and  sending  them  after  the  civilist 
manner  that  we  could  to  know  what  we  paid  our  levy  for,  but  could 
receive  no  satisfaction.  *  *  *  We  are  obliged  to  seek  redress  by  deny- 
ing paying  any  more  until  we  have  a  full  settlement  for  what  is  past,  and 
have  a  true  regulation  with  our  officers,  as  our  grievances  are  too  many  to 
notify  in  a  email  piece  of  writing.  We  desire  that  you,  our  assembly  meu 
and  vestrymen,  may  appoint  a  time  before  next  court  at  the  court-house 
and  let  us  know  by  the  bearer,  and  we  will  choose  men  to  act  for  us. 
We  desire  that  the  sheriffs  will  not  come  this  way  to  collect  the 
levy,  for  we  will  pay  none  before  there  is  a  settlement  to  our  satisfaction, 
and  as  the  nature  of  an  officer  is  a  servant  to  the  publick,  we  are  deter- 
mined to  have  the  officers  of  this  county  under  a  better  and  honester  regu- 
lation than  they  have  been  for  some  time  past.  Thiuk  not  to  frighten  us 
with  rebellion  in  tbis  case,  for  if  tbe  inhabitants  of  this  province  have  not 
as  good  a  right  to  enquire  into  the  nature  of  our  constitution  and  disburse- 
ment of  our  funds  as  those  of  our  mother  country,  we  think  it  is  by  arbi- 
trary proceedings  that  we  are  debarred  of  that  right;  therefore,  to  be  plain 
with  you,  it  is  our  intent  to  have  a  full  settlement  of  yon  in  every  particu- 
lar point  that  is  matter  of  doubt  with  us,  so  fail  not  to  send  an  answer  by 
the  bearer."     (Colonial  Records,  VII,  699,  700. ) 

2  Wheeler:  History  of  North  Carolina,  II,  306. 


166  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

of  the  officers,  from  the  later  movement.1  The  Regulation 
proper  was  now  fairly  launched,  and  the  launching  was  with 
such  violent  language  from  the  officers  that  many  who  had  not 
before  concerned  themselves  with  the  affair  joined  it  outright. 

On  April  4  the  Regulators  met  again  and  requested  the  late 
sheriff  and  a  vestryman  to  meet  a  committee  of  Regulators,  on 
a  day  to  be  selected,  with  a  list  of  the  taxables  for  each  year 
and  a  list  of  insolvents,  together  with  a  statement  of  all  dis- 
bursements of  the  public  money.  They  desired  also  that  their 
assemblymen  would  be  at  the  same  time  and  place  "to  show 
us  law  for  the  customary  fees  that  had  been  taken  for  deeds," 
etc.  Two  men  were  appointed  to  convey  this  request  to  the 
officers,  but  before  they  could  set  off  there  occurred  such  a 
storm  of  popular  fury  that  the  whole  matter  took  an  entirely 
different  aspect.  A  Regulator's  mare,  saddle,  and  bridle  were 
seized  aud  sold  on  account  of  one  levy.  A  party  of  angry 
Regulators  at  once  rode  to  Hillsboro,  where  they  rescued  the 
mare2  and  where  some  of  the  most  uncontrolled  spirits  fired 
some  shots  into  the  roof  of  Fanning's  house,  by  way  of  vent- 
ing their  spite.  The  Regulators  claimed  that  they  were  pro- 
voked to  this  by  a  gentleman  who  came  to  the  door  with  a 
pistol  and  threatened  to  tire  on  them.3 

Colonel  Fanning  was  at  that  time  attending  the  superior 
court  at  Halifax.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gray,  who  commanded 
the  militia  in  his  absence,  reported  the  matter  to  his  senior 
officer  and  was  ordered  to  embody  at  once  seven  companies  of 
militia  to  oppose  the  Regulators.  At  the  same  time  Fanning 
sent  a  warrant  from  the  chief  justice  for  the  arrest  of  William 
Butler,  Peter  Craven,  and  Ninian  Bell  Hamilton,  who  had 
been  leaders  of  the  rescuing  party. 4  The  militia  assembled  at 
once,  but  it  was  found  that  of  the  seven  companies  only  120 
men  presented  themselves  with  arms  in  their  hands,5  and  that 

1  It  was  perhaps  due  to  this  fact  that  the  officers  were  not  able  to  disso- 
ciate Husbands  from  the  Regulation  proper. 

2  Some  old  men,  "of  great  respectability,"  told  Caruthers  that  the  mare 
was  sold  to  an  officer  for  the  amount  of  the  levy  and  that  the  Regulators 
repaid  this  and  restored  the  property  to  the  former  owner.  (Life  of  Cald- 
well, pp.  118,119.) 

3  Colonial  Records,  VII,  7G4. 

4  lb.,  VII,  705-707. 

5  The  others  gave  as  an  excuse  the  bad  weather  and  said  they  would 
rather  pay  the  tines  than  attend  muster.     (lb.,  VII,  713.) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        167 

very  few  of  these  could  be  relied  upon  to  act  against  the  peo- 
ple. It  was  the  opinion  of  the  officers  that  not  over  150  men 
could  be  found  in  the  county  who  could  be  depended  on  in 
the  emergency.  At  this  time,  according  to  Husband,  not 
more  than  one-half  of  the  people  had  joined  the  Regulation.1 
The  remainder,  it  seems,  were  so  strongly  in  sympathy  with 
the  Regulators  they  would  not  tight  against  them.  The 
officers  were  also,  perhaps,  a  little  frightened.  They  decided 
to  make  a  truce.  This^so  they  wrote  Fanning,  was  solely  to  / 
gain  time.  They  appointed  three  men  to  meet  the  leaders  of 
the  Regulators  on  April  20.  Whether  this  meeting  was  held 
or  not  we  do  not  know ;  but  through  the  influence  of  the  parish 
clergyman,  Rev.  George  Micklejohn,2  a  further  meeting  was 
appointed  for  May  11,  at  which  it  was  promised  that  matters 
would  be  definitely  settled. 3 

On  receiving  this  news  Fanning  set  off  at  once  for  Hillsboro 
to  take  command  of  his  regiment.  Arriving  there  he  reported 
the  condition  of  affairs  to  Tryon.  His  ideas  of  the  Regula- 
tors were  based  entirely  on  the  paper  which  they  had  hastily 
sent  to  the  officers,  but  which  they  had  afterwards  modified. 
He  accused  them  of  swearing  to  pay  no  more  taxes,  to  kill  all 
officers  who  tried  to  collect  taxes,  to  prevent  the  execution  of 
the  decrees  of  the  courts,  and  to  arraign  all  officers  before 
"the  bar  of  their  shallow  understanding,"  as  well  as  of  desir- 
ing to  become  the  "sovereign  arbiters  of  right  and  wrong."4 
He  thought,  however,  that  he  should  be  able  to  manage  the 
situation  and  said  that  inasmuch  as  the  succeeding  week  was 
court  week  he  should  wait  till  it  had  passed,  and  then  on  May 
1  proceed  to  arrest  the  ringleaders  of  the  opposition,  sending 
them  to  Hillsboro  for  safety.  He  said  that  the  insurgents 
had  appointed  May  3  a  day  on  which  they  would  surround  the 
town,  which,  if  their  demands  were  not  satisfied,  they  would 
burn.  On  this  day  he  proposed  to  make  a  brave  stand.  It 
had  been  reported  that  they  could  bring  large  reenforcements 
from  Anson,   Mecklenburg,   and   Rowan  counties.     If  these 

1  Wheeler:  History  of  North  Carolina,  II,  308. 

2 The  Regulators  spell  this  name  McEljohn.  As  a  Scotchman  he  possi- 
bly had  some  influence  over  them.     (See  Colonial  Records,  VII,  764,  765.) 

3  See  ib.,  VII,  710-712,  for  officers'  letter. 

4  Fanning  said  that  he  was  informed  that  the  movement  originated  in 
Anson  County.  There  is  no  evidence  to  support  this.  Fanning  was  loath 
to  have  the  governor  think  his  county  had  been  so  badly  managed  as  to 
originate  such  resistance. 


168  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

should  come  he  desired  the  authority  to  call  out  the  militia  of 
other  counties,  though  he  was  desirous  of  restoring  order 
if  possible  without  going  out  of  his  own  county1  for  resources. 

To  this  letter  the  governor  replied  in  the  most  cordial  man- 
ner. He  offered  to  go  himself  to  aid  Fanning  if  the  latter 
.should  think  it  necessary.  He  ordered  the  militia  of  Burke 
[Bute],  Halifax,  Granville,  Rowan,  Mecklenburg,  Anson,  Cum- 
berland, and  Johnston,  to  be  held  in  readiness  to  march  at 
the  command  of  the  Orange  colonel,  and  instructed  that  gen- 
tleman to  call  out  his  own  regiment  "to  repel  all  insurrec- 
tions." He  inclosed  a  proclamation  to  the  people,  which  was 
to  be  published  before  decisive  measures  were  taken.2  Along 
with  this  letter  came  another  of  the  same  date,  but  in  a  milder 
tone.  It  was  more  conciliatory  and  was  evidently  intended  to 
be  read  to  the  people.  The  council  approved  of  this  action  of 
the  governor,  and  declared  the  Orange  trouble  an  insurrection.3 

As  to  the  charge  of  Tryon  that  the  Regulators  intended  to 
burn  the  town  on  May  3,  it  is  right  to  say  that  they  denied  it 
emphatically.  Parson  Micklejohn  had  induced  five  of  their 
leaders  to  sign  an  agreement  not  to  go  to  Hillsboro  until  the 
11th  of  May  unless  there  should  be  a  distress  for  a  levy.4 
These  five  had  stipulated  that  this  paper  should  be  void  if  the 
majority  dissented  from  it.  The  majority  did  dissent,  because, 
as  the  Regulators  declared,  "it  insinuated  a  falsity  as  though 
we  intended  violence,  whereas  in  fact  no  such  thing  was  de- 
signed, whatever  private  papers  might  be  handed  about  by 
particular  persons."5  It  was  perhaps  these  "private  papers" 
and  other  individual  action  that  rashly  brought  the  Regulation 
into  trouble,  making  it  very  difficult  for  its  more  cool-headed 
leaders  to  manage  it. 

On  April  30  the  Regulators  met  and  elected  thirteen  dele- 
gates to  attend  the  meeting  on  May  11.  They  selected  men  in 
whom  they  could  place  confidence,  regardless  of  membership 
in  the  association.  One  of  the  men  chosen  was  Hermon  Hus- 
band, who  was  not  a  Regulator  at  this  time.  The  thirteen 
"settlers ".were  instructed  to  procure  a  list  of  the  taxables  for 
the  terms  of  office  of  the  two  late  sheriffs,  with  the  number  of 
insolvents  and  delinquents;  to  procure  a  fair  account  of  the 

'  Colonial  Records,  VII,  713-716. 
2 lb.,  VII,  717,  718. 
:ilb.,  VII,  719-722. 
4  lb.,  VII,  716. 
s lb.,  VII,  765. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        169 

taxes  collected  and  the  citation  of  the  laws  authorizing  them; 
to  obtain  especially  an  account  of  the  province,  county,  and 
parish  taxes  of  1767;  to  examine  the  fee  bill  to  learn  the  cost 
of  registering-  certain  instruments.  They  were  also  required 
to  take  an  oath  pledging  themselves  to  do  justice  between 
the  officers  and  the  people  according  to  their  capacity.1  This 
paper  was  ordered  to  be  sent  to  the  officers.  They  also  drew 
up  and  signed  a  petition  to  the  governor  and  council  which 
they  laid  aside  to  be  used  in  case  the  officers  should  disappoint 
them  in  the  proposed  settlement.  This  petition  came  not  as 
from  Regulators,  but  as  from  "inhabitants  of  Orange  County." 
It  was  signed  by  some  not  Regulators,  notably  by  Husband, 
and  there  were  more  than  400  signatures.2 

An  unfortunate  event  here  interrupted  matters.  On  the 
same  day  the  governor's  secretary,  one  Edwards,  arrived  in 
Hillsboro  and  set  up  the  proclamation  mentioned  above.  On 
the  next  day  Fanning  put  his  preconceived  plan  into  opera- 
tion. Collecting  twenty-seven  armed  men,  mostly  from  the 
officeholders,  he  set  out  for  Sandy  Creek.  He  arrived  there 
on  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  May,  when  the  sheriff,  thus  sup- 
ported, arrested  William  Butler,  one  of  the  Regulators,  and 
Hermon  Husband,  who  was  not  a  Regulator,  who  had  not  joined 
in  any  tumult,  and  u  whose  only  crime  was  his  being  active  in 
trying  to  bring  on  the  intended  settlement."' 3  The  charge  was 
inciting  to  rebellion.4  The  prisoners  were  taken  to  Hillsboro 
at  once,  where  they  were  thrown  into  prison  after  a  trial  before 
a  justice  of  the  peace.  Husband  was  ordered  to  be  taken  to 
the  Newbern  jail  for  safe-keeping.5 

This  so  aroused  the  fears  as  well  as  the  indignation  of  the 
people,  both  Regulators  and  non-regulators,  that  next  morning 
700  men  were  on  their  way  to  the  town  to  release  the  prisoners. 
The  officers,  thoroughly  frightened,  were  glad  to  release  the  two 
men  and  to  send  them  out  to  turn  back  the  mob.  This,  how- 
ever, was  not  till  Husband  had  been  terrorized  into  giving  a 
promise  that  he  would  not  concern  himself  any  more  in  the 
abuses  of  the  officers.6 

1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  731-732. 

2  lb.,  VII,  733-737. 

3  For  Husband's  own  account  of  his  arrest  and  trial  see  Wheeler,  II,  316 
et  seq. 

4  Colonial  Records,  VII,  742. 

5  lb.,  VII,  743. 

«  Wheeler,  II,  317. 


170  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

They  also  sent  out  Secretary  Edwards,  who  read  a  proclama- 
tion to  the  excited  people,  and  delivered  a  verbal  message  from 
the  governor  to  the  intent  that  if  the  Regulators  would  petition 
the  governor  for  redress  and  go  to  their  homes  he  would  see 
that  entire  justice  was  doue  them.  This  was  exactly  what  they 
had  decided  upon  as  their  next  step  in  case  the  meeting  on 
May  11  should  fail,  and  they  consequently  gladly  accepted  the 
proposition.  The  officers  also  accepted  the  offer,  and  to  the 
people  the  case  was  put  as  if  the  governor  and  council  had 
been  called  in  to  arbitrate  between  the  contending  parties.1 

The  Regulators  called  a  meeting  to  prepare  the  proposed 
petition.  This  was  not  m  keeping  with  the  plans  of  their 
opponents.  Fanning  had  already  written  to  some  of  the  most 
pacific  of  the  Regulators,  offering,  if  they  would  meet  him  in 
Hillsboro,  to  prepare  a  petition  to  the  next  assembly  for  relief, 
which  petition  he  agreed  to  present  himself  as  a  member  from 
Orange.2  By  this  it  seems  that  he  wanted  to  get  a  petition 
worded  in  a  manner  inoffensive  to  his  interests,  which  he  could 
present  as  the  petition  of  the  discontented  people  of  his  county. 
His  plan  was  thwarted  now  that  the  petition  was  to  be  regu- 
larly prepared  by  the  organization.  The  officers  did  not  give 
up  hope,  however:  for  through  Ralph  McNair  they  sent  Hus- 
band a  paper  of  their  own  framing,  which,  it  was  confidentially 
said,  was  the  only  petition  that  would  "  go  down  with  the  gov- 
ernor."3 Husband  was  asked  to  induce  the  people  to  adopt 
this  as  their  petition.  It  was  a  dastardly  attempt  at  bulldoz- 
ing. The  Regulators  were,  by  this  paper,  to  denounce  their 
past  conduct  as  "illegal  and  unwarrantable,"  to  declare  that 
they  had  been  mistaken  in  their  charges  against  the  officers, 
and  to  throw  themselves  entirely  on  the  mercy  of  Tryon. 
McNair  wrote  coaxingly  enough,  but  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
employ  threats.  He  warned  Husband  that  if  the  proposed 
petition  was  not  adopted  Fanning  would  represent  the  case  to 
Tryon  as  treason.  At  the  meeting  a  clergyman  and  a  mer- 
chant4 appeared,  who  tried  to  influence  the  people  to  the  same 
end.     The  very  inexperience  of  the  Regulators  saved  them. 


1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  765,  766. 

2  lb.,  VII,  741. 

3McNair's  letter  and  the  petition  referred  to  can  be  found  in  Colonial 
Records  VII,  767-771. 

4  The  names  of  these  two  men  are  not  given.     (See  Wheeler,  II,  309.) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        171 

Confused  by  the  threats  of  the  officers,  they  appointed  a  com- 
mittee, who  should  lay  before  the  governor  and  council  all  the 
papers  of  the  association,  and  who  should  transmit  with  them 
a  statement  of  the  history  of  the  movement,  together  with  a 
request  for  pardon  for  anything  they  had  done  contrary  to  the 
King's  peace  and  government.1 

At  the  same  meeting  they  procured  affidavits  to  support 
their  charges  against  the  sheriff,  clerk,  and  register  in  twenty 
cases  of  alleged  illegal  fees.  These  affidavits  were  most  prob- 
ably sent  to  the  governor  along  with  their  other  papers.  They 
undoubtedly  make  out  a  very  strong  case  against  the  officers. 
Moreover,  we  have  no  evidence  in  rebuttal  of  them. 

The  reply2  of  Tryon  to  the  Regulators  was  cold.  He  denied 
that  he  had  authorized  Edwards  to  pledge  his  interference 
to  them.  He  frowned  at  their  proceedings,  darkly  hinted 
at  treason  and  its  punishment,  hoped  that  his  proclamation 
had  brought  them  to  submission,  indorsed  the  vigorous  action 
of  Fanning  and  the  loyal  militia,  directed  the  dissatisfied  to 
desist  from  all  further  meetings,  and  to  allow  the  taxes  to  be 
collected.  Said  that  he  had  authorized  Edwards  to  say  110 
more  than  this  communication  implied.  He  assured  them  that 
he  should  order  the  attorney  general  to  prosecute  upon  due 
application  all  who  were  charged  with  taking  illegal  fees,  and 
promised  for  himself  that  a  proclamation  should  be  issued 
against  the  same  abuse.  For  their  better  information  he  told 
them  that  the  poll  tax,  exclusive  of  county  and  parish  taxes, 
was,  for  the  year  1767,  7s.3  The  governor  read  this  reply  in 
the  council,  where  it  was  ratified.  Then,  at  his  suggestion, 
Fanning  was  called  into  the  room,  and  the  thanks  of  the  body 
formally  expressed  to  him  and  his  men  "for  their  prudent  and 
splendid  behavior"  in  the  recent  troubles. 

While  affairs  were  assuming  this  shape  in  Orange  they  had 
come  almost  to  as  bad  a  condition  in  Anson.  Here  the  office- 
holding  influence  was  very  strong,  and  the  people  complained 
of  the  same  abuses  that  were  charged  against  the  Orange 
officers.  Abundant  evidence  will  be  forthcoming  in  this  paper 
to  show  how  thoroughly  county  government  in  North  Carolina 
was  then  in  the  hands  of  an  office-holding  oligarchy.    In  Anson 


1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  759-766. 
2 lb.,  VII,  792-794. 

1  This  is  what  it  was  announced  by  the  sheriff  for  1768,  when  there  had 
been  no  change  by  the  assembly  since  the  previous  year. 


172  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

the_abuse  was  marked.  Samuel  Spencer  was  at  once  clerk  of 
the  county,  assemblyman,  and  colonel  of  the  county  militia. 
Anthony  Hutching  had  formerly  been  sheriff,  and  as  such  was 
behind  with  his  accounts,  and  was  charged  with  having  fraudu- 
lently conveyed  his  land  to  escape  payment.  He  was  now  a 
justice  of  the  county  court.  Charles  Medlock  had  also  been 
sheriff,  and  was  behind  with  his  accounts.  He  also  was  a 
justice.  These  three  men  managed  the  politics  of  the  county. 
The  sheriff,  justices,  and  other  officers  were  all  appointed  on 
their  recommendation. ' 

Against  these  the  people  in  1768  formed  an  association,  the 
members  of  which  agreed  to  unite  to  prevent  the  collection  of 
the  tax  for  that  year,  which  they  thought  unreasonably  high, 
to  rescue  any  fellow-member  who  should  be  iinx>risoned,  to 
retake  property  distrained  on  account  of  nonpayment  of  taxes, 
and  to  aid  in  repaying  any  member  the  cost  in  a  lawsuit 
incurred  by  reason  of  his  membership  in  the  association. 
Leading  this  movement  was  Charles  Eobinson,  whom  Spencer 
described  as  a  chronic  candidate  for  the  assembly,  who  had 
worked  up  this  movement  in  order  to  aid  his  political  fortune. 
Robinson  had  been  in  the  assembly  once^  and  there  seems  to 
be  no  reason  why  we  should  not  believe  him  an  honest  cham- 
pion of  the  cause  of  the  people. 

In  April,  1768,  the  discontented  in  Anson  gathered  at  the 
county  court  about  one  hundred  strong  and  interrupted  the 
proceedings.  They  drove  the  justices  off  the  bench,  held  a 
meeting  in  the  court-house  at  which  Robinson  was  indorsed 
for  the  assembly,  swore  to  an  oath  of  their  own  making,  and 
then  dispersed.2  Spencer  forthwith  sent  Mr.  Hooper,  possibly 
William  Hooper,  to  Tryon  with  a  letter,  asking  for  orders  in 
the  emergency.  The  governor,  in  reply,  gave  Colonel  Spencer 
the  authority  to  call  out  the  county  militia,  in  order  to  appre 
hend  the  leaders  of  the  insurgents.  He  promised  that  if  the 
people  would  present  their  grievances  to  him  or  to  the  assem- 
bly they  would  be  redressed,  and  pointed  out  that  if  they  would 
apply  to  the  attorney-general  that  officer  would  prosecute  all 
persons  charged  with  extortion.  In  addition  to  this  letter  the 
council  issued  a  proclamation  against  the  disturbers.3 


1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  806-808. 

2  This  is  Spencer's  account  of  the  aft'air.    (lb.,  VII,  722-726.) 
3Ib.,VIL751. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        173 

The  Anson  Regulators,  however,  wrote  to  their  brethren  in 
Orange,  asking  for  information  as  to  the  methods  of  organiz- 
ing. The  latter  responded  with  alacrity,  sending  a  copy  of 
their  proceedings  on  May  21,  "to  prevent  speedily  their  run- 
ning into  any  errors,"  and  promising  to  send  other  papers.1 
It  was,  perhaps,  due  to  this  advice  that  three  months  later 
ithe  Anson  people  changed  their  method  from  violence  to  the 
friendly  petition.  In  August  they  delivered  to  the  governor  a 
statement  of  their  grievances.  They  acknowledged  that  they 
should  have  addressed  him  before  their  proceedings  of  the 
past  April,  but  pleaded  that  oppression  had  made  them  rash. 
They  asked  that  most  of  the  justices  of  peace  in  the  county 
might  be  removed  and  others  appointed  in  their  stead.  To 
this  paper  99  names  were  signed.2  Governor  Tryon  replied 
in  a  conciliatory  tone,  promising  that  officers  charged  with 
extortion  should  be  prosecuted,  and  intimating  that  the  insur- 
gents had  been  fortunate  in  securing  lenity  by  their  timely 
submission/  The  people  had  not  submitted  to  any  great 
extent,  however,  as  we  shall  see  them  later  on  aiding  their 
brothers  elsewhere.  It  seems  very  evident  that  Tryon  was 
trying  to  divide  the  Regulators  in  Anson  from  those  in  Orange, 
so  as  to  deal  more  successfully  with  the  latter. 

Wben  the  Regulators  of  Orange  referred  their  case  to  Tryon 
for  arbitration  they  did  so  with  full  confidence  in  his  disinter- 
estedness. The  cold  reply  to  that  appeal  had  destroyed  much 
of  this  confidence.  Just  about  this  time  a  report  was  circu- 
lated that  about  £30,000  had  been  collected  more  than  was 
necessary  to  sink  the  outstanding  public  currency.  This  was 
given  as  merely  a  suspicion ;  but  in  popular  disturbances  a 
suspicion  is  often  as  potent  as  a  fact.  The  Regulators  had 
been  forbidden  to  assemble  themselves  in  any  more  meetings,4 
and  consequently  there  was  much  private  talking  of  no  sub- 
missive nature.  A  proclamation  against  illegal  fees  had  been 
set  up  at  Hillsboro,  but  it  had  not  brought  relief.  Husband 
says  that  it  was  followed  by  higher  rather  than  lower  fees.5 


1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  759. 

2  lb.,  VII,  806-809. 

3  lb.,  VII,  809,810. 

4  Governor  Tryon  says  they  did  meet  in  spite  of  this  injunction.    (lb., VII, 
819.) 

5  Wheeler :  History  of  North  Carolina,  II,  311, 312. 


174  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

In  the  meantime  Tryon  went  to  Hillsboro,  arriving  there  on 
July  6.  He  remained  until  August,  hoping  that  the  country 
would  be  induced  to  submit.  The  people  refused  as  stoutly  as 
ever  to  pay  taxes.  On  August  1  they  met  to  consider,  as  Hus- 
band says,  the  answer  to  Tryon's  reply  to  their  petition.  At 
this  meeting  there  appeared  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  bearing 
a  letter  and  proclamation  from  the  governor,  the  import  of 
which  was  that  the  attorney-general  had  been  instructed  to 
prosecute  officers  charged  with  extortion,  and  that  the  Regu- 
lators should  quietly  submit  to  the  collection  of  taxes  by  the 
sheriff.  Both  the  sheriff  and  his  deputy  deposed  that  after 
the  public  reading  of  this  letter  the  people  refused  to  pay 
the  taxes  and  threatened  to  take  the  life  of  the  said  deponents 
if  they  attempted  to  distrain  property.1  Husband  says  they 
merely  told  the  sheriff  that  they  had  decided  to  refer  the  mat- 
ter to  the  assembly  and  the  whole  council,  and  declared  that 
no  insult  was  offered.2  They  also  sent  a  reply  to  Tryon's 
answer  to  their  formal  petition,  in  which  they  claimed  that  the 
officers  paid  no  attention  to  the  proclamation  against  illegal 
fees,3  and  added:  "Seeing  that  these  sons  of  Zeruiah  are  like 
to  prove  too  hard  for  your  excellency,  as  well  as  for  us,  *  *  * 
we  have  come  to  the  resolution  to  petition  the  lower  house,  as 
the  other  branch  of  the  legislature,  in  order  to  strengthen 
your  excellency's  hands." 4 

Immediately  after  this  the  Regulators  were  alarmed  by 
rumors  to  the  effect  that  runners  were  out  arousing  the  mili- 
tia, and  that  the  Indians  were  about  to  be  called  down  upon 
them.  A  great  multitude  of  the  people — over  a  thousand — col- 
lected about  20  miles  from  Hillsboro  on  August  11  and  selected 
eight  men  to  interview  the  governor.  To  these  the  governor 
replied  that  he  had  not  had  an  intention  of  enlisting  the 
Indians  or  of  leading  the  militia  "to  break  in  upon  any  set- 
tlement, as  has  been  falsely  represented;"  that  he  was  ever 
ready  to  do  them  justice;  that  Fanning  had  agreed  to  submit 
his  case  to  the  next  supreme  [superior]  court,  by  whose  deci- 
sion he  would  abide,  and  finally  that  the  sheriff's  accounts 
with  the  county  had  been  examined  and  approved.     Tryon 

1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  798-799. 

2  Wheeler,  II,  312. 

3  This  proclamation  is  found  in  Colonial  Records.  VII,  795-796. 

4  Wheeler,  II,  13,14;  also  Colonial  Records,  VII,  801-803. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        175 

also  appointed  August  17  as  a  day  for  a  meeting  of  Regula- 
tors, when,  as  Husband  says,  the  sheriff  should  settle  with 
them,  by  which  he  probably  meant  that  on  that  day  the  sheriff 
would  give  them  an  opportunity  of  examining  the  public 
accounts. l 

The  governor  seems  not  to  have  called  together  the  militia 
till  the  town  was  thought  to  be  in  danger.  Then  he  could 
gather  only  400  men,  to  whom  he  administered  an  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  King  and  to  the  North  Carolina  government 
before  he  dismissed  them.2 

On  the  17th,  the  day  set  for  the  meeting,  the  old  sheriff  did 
not  appear,  but  John  Lea,  the  new  sheriff,  appeared  with  a 
letter  from  Tryon,  the  tone  of  which  was  unexpectedly  severe. 
This  letter  had  been  indorsed  by  a  council  of  three  members 
which  had  been  gotten  together  at  Hillsboro.  In  it  the  Regu- 
lators  were  told  that  their  measures  were  criminal  and  illegal ; 
that  they  had  made  every  man  of  property  and  probity  in  the 
county  consider  them  as  bent  on  insurrection  rather  than  as 
desiring  a  legal  process  against  those  whom  they  accused.  It 
was  the  governor's  chief  concern  that  they  should  not  trust 
the  courts  of  law,  and  in  this  he  felt  was  implied  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  his  power  to  see  that  justice  was  done  them.  To 
relieve  him  of  the  necessity  of  calling  out  the  militia  to  pro- 
tect the  next  term  of  court,  at  which  Butler  and  Husband 
were  to  be  tried,  he  demanded  that  by  the  25th  of  August 
twelve  of  the  prominent  Regulators  should  meet  him  at  Salis- 
bury and  become  surety  in  a  bond  of  £1,000  that  at  the  said 
court  no  attempt  should  be  made  to  rescue  the  two  men  in 
question.3  This  letter  was  delivered  on  the  17th;  on  the  same 
day  Tryon  set  out  for  Salisbury. 

Two  days  later  the  Regulators  replied  that  for  two  reasons 
they  could  not  enter  into  the  proposed  bond:  (1)  The  most 
pacific  of  their  number  were  their  leaders,  and  these  could 
govern  the  men  and  prevent  outrages,  whereas  if  they  entered 
into  such  a  bond  it  would  destroy  their  influence  over  the  more 
violent;  and  (2)  they  had  never  intended  to  rescue  the  prison- 
ers, but  to  ask  the  governor  to  dissolve  the  assembly,  a  pro- 
cedure which  they  thought  would  stop  every  complaint.     The 

1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  819-821 ;  and  Wheeler,  II,  312-313. 

2  Colonial  Records,  VII,  804. 

3  lb.,  VII,  805,  806. 


176  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

governor's  plans  were  already  made  and  lie  was  acting  with 
his  customary  promptness.  His  design  was,  if  the  Regulators 
should  not  be  submissive,  to-  get  as  many  forces  as  he  could 
raise  in  Rowan  and  Mecklenburg  counties  and  then  to  march 
back  to  Hillsboro  just  before  the  term  of  the  superior  court, 
which  met  in  September.  He  arrived  in  Salisbury  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  18th.  On  the  10th  he  appointed  a  review  of  the 
Rowan  militia  for  the  26th,  gave  orders  that  ample  entertain- 
ment should  be  provided  on  that  occasion,  and  passed  rapidly 
on  to  Mecklenburg.1  Passing  through  the  German  settlement 
he  stayed  on  Sunday  with  Maj.  Martin  Phifer,  a  member  of 
the  assembly  from  Mecklenburg.  Here  he  won  the  people  by 
hearing  a  sermon  by  their  minister,  Mr.  Suther,  who  "recom- 
mended with  warmth  a  due  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the 
country  '  He  cajoled  the  Presbyterians  also,  whose  ministers, 
Hugh  McAden,2  James  Creswell,  Henry  Patillo,  and  David 
Caldwell,  sent  the  governor  a  letter  full  of  loyalty  to  gov- 
ernment and  maledictions  for  the  Regulators,3  while  at  the 
same  time  the  Presbyterian  pastors,  presumably  the  same 
ministers,  wrote  a  letter  to  the  North  Carolina  Presbyterians 
condemning  the  Regulators  in  the  strongest  terms.4  He  also 
utilized  the  feeling  of  respect  for  their  neighborhood  leaders, 
which  was  still  strong  with  the  Scotch,  by  appointing  as  cap- 
tains and  justices  of  the  peace  the  influential  men  of  the  differ- 
ent communities.  These  were  able  to  bring  many  soldiers  to 
his  side.5  The  organization  of  the  Baptists  was  also  against 
them.6 

From  Major  Phifer's  he  proceeded  to  review  the  Mecklen- 
burg militia  on  the  23d.  Here  also  he  had  entertainment  pro- 
vided for  men  and  officers.  Nine  hundred  men  came  to  the 
review,  but  when  he  tried  to  get  them  to  take  the  oath  that  he 
had  administered  to  the  loyal  in  Orange  some  objection  was 
made,  so  that,  as  night  was  coming  on,  it  was  not  possible 
to  call  for  volunteers.     He  accordingly  ordered  the  captains  to 

1  Try  oil's  journal  shows  all  of  his  proceedings  on  this  trip.  (Colonial 
Records,  VII,  819-838.) 

2  The  spelling  in  the  letter  is  McCaddon,  hut  Foote  gives  it  uniformly 
McAden.     (Sketches,  pp.  175-176.) 

3  Colonial  Records,  VII,  813-814. 
4 lb.,  VII,  814-816. 

6 See  "Fan  for  Fanning,"  Univ.  Mag.,  IX,  465. 

6Purefoy  :  History  of  Sandy  Creek  Association,  pages  69-73. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        177 

call  for  volunteers  at  private  musters  and  to  report  the  num- 
ber tbey  could  furnish,  to  their  colonel  by  the  27th.  On  the 
26th  he  was  in  Salisbury,  where  the  reading  of  the  letter  of 
the  Presbyterian  pastors  and  a  liberal  supply  of  beer  and 
toddy  handed  around  in  the  ranks  of  the  volunteers  had  the 
desired  eifect.  By  this  means  he  was  able  on  the  13th  of  Sep- 
tember to  set  out  for  Hjllsboro  with  195  men  from  Rowan  aud 
310  from  Mecklenburg.1  He  met  with  no  opposition  save  a 
harmless  threat  from  the  Regulators  that  they  would,  on  the 
pretense  of  the  fear  of  disease,  stop  a  drove  of  cattle  which 
were  being  driven  to  him,  and  on  the  19th  he  arrived  at  his  des- 
tination. Two  days  later  this  body  was  joined  by  the  Orange 
forces,  099  strong,  and  by  the  Granville  detachment  of  120 
men.  These,  with  two  small  companies  of  gentlemen,  an  artil- 
lery company,  and  the  general  officers,  made  up  a  force  ofJ^Ol 
men,  all  called  out  to  protect  the  Hillsboro  court  from  the 
Regulators.2  _ 

One  peculiarity  of  this  force  was  the  number  of  officers  in 
it.  There  were  six  lieutenant-generals,  two  major-generals, 
three  adjutant-generals,  two  maj  ors  of  brigades,  seven  colonels, 
live  lieutenant-colonels,  four  majors,  and  thirty-one  captains. 
Of  the  entire  force  only  1^53,  about  three-fourths,  were  pri- 
vates. Another  noteworthy  feature  was  the  number  of  poli- 
ticians among  the  officers.  Robert  Palmer,  a  member  of  the 
council,  was  present  as  adjutant-general ;  John  Rutherford, 
president  of  the  council  and  receiver- general  of  quit-rents, 
was  a  lieutenant-general;  John  Sampson,  Benjamin  Heron, 
LeMs  H.  De  Rossett,  and  Edmund  Strudwick,  all  members  of 
the  couucil,  were  likewise  lieutenant-generals;3  John  Ashe, 
assemblyman  from  New  Hanover,  was  a  major-general,  and 
James  Moore,  his  colleague,  commanded  the  artillery,  with  the 
rank  of  colonel;  Edmund  Panning  and  Thomas  Lloyd,  repre- 
sentatives of  Orange,  held  military  office,  the  one  as  colonel 
of  the  Orange  regiment  and  the  other  as  a  major-general; 
Robert  Harris,  representative  from  Granville,  commanded  that 
county's  militia,  with  the  rank  of  colonel ;  John  Frohock,  the 
lieutenant-colonel  of  Rowan's  regiment,  was  a  member  of  the 


1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  889. 

2  The  return  of  the  troops  is  given  in  Colonial  Records,  VII,  889. 

3  lb.,  VII,  833. 

H.  Mis.  91 12 


178  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

assembly,  and  Alexeuder  Osborn,  the  colouel,  was  a  justice  of 
the  county  court ; '  Martin  Phifer  was  an  assemblyman  from 
Mecklenburg  and  was  here  a  major;  Thomas  Polk  held  the 
same  civil  office  from  the  same  county  and  was  here  a  captain; 
Abner  Nash,  a  prominent  politician  of  Halifax,  was  a  major 
of  brigade;  Samuel  Swann,  jr.,  assemblyman  from  Pasquo- 
tank, was  a  captain  of  artillery;  Alexander  Lillington,  an  old 
and  influential  politician,  was  a  colonel;  Maurice  Moore,  an 
assemblyman  and  an  associate  justice  of  the  superior  courts, 
was  present  as  a  colonel;  Eobert  Howe,  a  member  of  the 
assembly,  was  a  major  of  brigade;  Moses  Alexander,  an  influ- 
ential Presbyterian  of  Mecklenburg,  was  present  as  a  lieuten- 
ant-colonel and  as  commissary  for  his  regiment ;  Thomas  Hart, 
the  obnoxious  ex- sheriff  of  Orange,  filled  the  office  of  commis- 
sary of  the  Orange  and  Granville  forces,  and  Samuel  Spencer, 
who  held  several  offices  in  Anson,  was  present  as  colonel.  At 
a  council  of  war  held  in  Hillsboro,  which  no  military  officer 
lower  than  a  major  attended,  but  to  which  6  members  of  the 
assembly  were  invited,  there  were  present  in  all  34  members. 
Of  these,  IS  were  members  of  the  lower  house  and  6  were  mem- 
bers of  the  upper  house  of  the  assembly,  making  a  total  of  24 
out  of  34.2  Thus,  to  guard  the  superior  court  a  military  force 
was  called  out  which  embraced,  either  as  high  officers  or  as 
gentlemen  volunteers,  one-fourth  of  the  members  of  that  body 
to  which  the  Regulators  had  decided  to  appeal.3  The  above 
contrast  indicates  how  completely  the  forces  of  central  and 
local  government,  both  civil  and  military,  were  in  the  hands  of 
a  small  officeholding  class,  which  was  distributed  throughout 
the  counties.  As  we  contemplate  such  a  state  of  affairs  we 
are  struck  with  the  fact  that  nothing  short  of  a  popular  upheaval 
could  have  brought  redress  to  the  Regulators. 

Before  this  array  of  force  the  simple  farmers  were  not  pre- 
pared to  make  a  stand.  They  assembled  on  September  22, 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  town,  to  the  number  of  3,700,  and 
sent  proposals  to  the  governor  "desiring  to  know  the  terms  on 


'Colonial  Records,  VII,  856. 

2  These  facts  have  for  the  most  part  been  obtained  by  comparing  Tryon's 
journal  with  the  list  of  assemblymen,  to  be  found  in  Colonial  Records, 
VII,  p.  342. 

3'rhere  were  72  members  in  the  assembly  at  that  time,  it  seems.  (lb., 
VII,  342.) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        179 

which  their  submission  would  be  accepted."1  This  proposi- 
tion was  received  by  a  council  of  war  at  which  the  governor, 
who  was  sick,  could  not  be  present.  The  council  of  war  pro- 
posed to  pardon  insurgents  if  they  would  give  bond  to  pay  their 
taxes  and  for  the  future  not  to  obstruct  the  officers.  The 
governor  suggested  that  the  council  consider  the  advisability 
of  sending  troops  "to  compel  the  Regulators  to  submit  them- 
selves to  government,"  but  that  body  would  modify  its  views 
only  to  the  extent  that  the  Regulators  should  be  required  to 
take  the  oaths  of  loyalty  and  allegiance  which  had  been  admin- 
istered to  the  troops.  Accordingly  the  people  were  told  that 
if  they  would  surrender  5  of  their  leaders  from  Orange,  2 
from  Anson,  and  2  from  Rowan,  lay  down  their  arms  before 
the  army,  and  promise  to  pay  taxes  in  the  future  they  would 
be  pardoned.  Husband  and  Butler,  it  was  stipulated,  were 
not  to  be  included  in  the  9  excepted  persons.  About  thirty 
of  the  people  accepted  this  offer;  the  others  went  to  their 
homes.  The  next  day  Tryon  sent  a  body  of  troops  to  arrest 
those  who  were  especially  wanted.  Some  submitted  to  arrest, 
others  resisted,  but  all  who  were  taken  were  soon  released  be- 
cause a  true  bill  could  not  be  found  against  them.  The  mili- 
tia remained  in  the  town  during  the  session  of  the  court.  On 
the  28th  they  began  to  be  discharged,  and  on  the  2d  of  Octo- 
ber the  last  of  the  several  detachments  marched  away.  On 
theJM,  Tryon,  by  proclamation,  pardoned  all  bnt-J3  of  the 
insurgents.2  The  Regulators  soon  subsided,  and  on  October  29 
Tyree  Harris  wrote  to  the  governor  that  on  visiting  them  in 
in  their  homes  but  a  short  time  before  he  had  found  them  dis- 
posed to  pay  the  taxes.3  Thus  ended  Tryon's  first  military 
expedition  against  the  Regulators.  It  had  cost  the  province 
£4,844 4  and  not  a  drop  of  blood,  but  it  quieted  for  some  time 
the  turbulent  members  of  the  Regulators  and  it  gave  the  pro- 


1  Husband  says  they  offered  to  pay  levies,  etc.,  as  usual  if  the  governor 
would  let  them  coine  into  town  to  testify  against  the  officers,  aud  if  he 
would  pardon  their  past  breaches  of  the  peace,  the  cases  of  Butler  and 
Husband  excepted.  The  minutes  of  the  council,  which  we  have  followed, 
say  nothing  of  this,  although,  as  they  do  not  contain  the  written  proposal 
of  the  Regulators,  it  is  possible  that  Husband  is  correct.  (See  Colonial 
Records,  VII,  840-842,  and  Wheeler,  II,  316.) 

2  Colonial  Records,  VII,  850. 
3 lb.,  VII,  863,864. 

«  lb.,  VII,  887-888. 


180  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

vincial  magnates  an  easy  and  safe  means  of  acquiring  military- 
titles.  l 

[n  the  meantime  the  court  had  taken  up  the  cases  against 
Husband  and  Butler  as  well  as  the  cases  against  the  officers. 
Husband  was  indicted  for  a  rout  in  four  cases;  the  grand  jury 
returned  three  of  these  "ignoramus;"  on  the  other  he  was  tried 
and  acquitted.2  Butler  was  tried  on  two  counts  and  found 
guilty  on  each.  He  was  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  £50  and  to 
be  imprisoned  six  months.  Two  others,  Phillip  Hartso  and 
Samuel  Devinney,  were  tried  for  the  same  act,  convicted,  and 
sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  £25  and  to  be  imprisoned  three 
months.  Dennice  Bradley,  who  was  indicted  for  burning  the 
jail  of  Granville,  was  acquitted,  and  three  true  bills  that  had 
been  made  out  against  the  leading  Begulators  who  had  been 
arrested  were  ordered  to  be  quashed  because  of  irregulari- 
ties, and  the  attorney- general  was  ordered  to  bring  in  others. 
Tryon's  policy  was  now  to  be  as  lenient  as  possible,  in  order  to 
bring  the  people  back  to  submission,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  it 
was  intended  that  these  indictments  should  have  been  revived 
at  the  next  court.  Indeed,  he  wrote  to  Lord  Hillsborough, 
the  secretary  for  the  colonies,  that  he  "imagined  "  that "  these 
will  take  their  trial  next  March."  The  three  prisoners,  as  men- 
tioned above,  he  released3  and  suspended  the  payments  of  their 
fines  for  six  months.4  On  September  9, 1769,  Tryon,  acting  on 
advice  from  the  King,  pardoned,  by  proclamation,  all  those 
who  had  been  found  guilty  on  these  charges.5 

'While  the  troops  were  in  Hillsboro,  Rev.  Henry  Patillo,  one  of  the 
leading  Presbyterian  ministers  of  the  early  history  of  that  denomination 
in  North  Carolina,  preached  to  the  troops.  Mr.  Suther  was  ordered  also 
to  preach  to  the  Germans  in  the  army ;  whether  he  complied  or  not  does 
not  appear;  he  doubtless  obeyed.  At  the  same  time  Rev.  Mr.  Micklejohn, 
the  parish  clergyman,  was  "  desired  "  to  preach  before  the  troops.  The  first 
and  the  last  were  publicly  thanked  for  their  services  (Colonial  Records,  VII, 
835,  836,  and  886),  and  the  next  assembly  ordered  the  sermon  of  Mr.  Mickle- 
john  to  be  printed  at  the  public  expense.  (VII,  983.)  This  sermon  was 
preached  from  Romans,  xiii,  1  and  2,  that  text  which  has  so  often  been 
made  to  hold  up  the  temple  of  tyranny,  and  the  preacher  said  in  it  that  the 
governor  should  hang  at  least  twenty  of  the  rebels,  and  that  they  could 
not  hope  to  escape  hell.     (See  Foote,  Sketches,  p.  67.) 

2  Wheeler,  II,  321,322. 

3Husband  says  two  of  them  escaped  and  a  discharge  was  sent  after 
them.     The  other,  Butler,  was  discharged  also.     (lb.,  II,  322.) 

"See  Colonial  Records,  VII,  844-846  and  884, 885. 

5 lb.,  VIII,  17  and  67. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        181 

The  one  half  of  the  business  of  the  court,  that  is  to  say, 
to  try  Regulators,  was  easily  accomplished;  the  other  half,  to 
try  the  officers,  was  a  harder  task.  Husband  says  the  troops 
asked  the  business  of  every  man  who  went  into  the  court.  If 
any  owned  that  they  came  to  complain  of  officers  they  were 
bulldozed  by  the  guards,  so  that  many  were  scared  away. 
Those  who  persisted  in  staying  were  ordered  out  of  town.  One 
of  the  prisoners,  very  likely  Husband  himself,  induced  several 
to  come  back,  and  these  brought  charges  against  Fanning  andj 
Francis  JSTash.  The  former  was  register,  and  on  five  counts 
he  was  found  guilty.  He  pleaded  a  misconstruction  of  the 
law.  For  each  offense  he  was  fined  1  penny.  Nash,  accord- 
ing to  Tryou,  was  also  convicted,  but  if  he  was  convicted  he 
must  have  gotten  a  new  trial,  for  the  court  records  show  that 
he  gave  his  bond  to  appear  at  the  next  court.1  On  being  con- 
victed Fanning  at  once  resigned  his  position  as  register. 

The  case  against  Fanning  is  worthy  of  a  fuller  statement. 
The  fee  bill  allowed  the  register  2s.  8d.  for  registering  a  con- 
veyance "  or  any  other  writing,  or  giving  a  copy  thereof."  A 
deed  was  brought  to  be  registered,  which,  besides  being  a 
mere  conveyance,  had  indorsed  on  it  the  certificate  of  the 
examination  of  a  feme  covert,  the  certificate  of  the  person  ex- 
amining, and  the  oath  of  execution.  To  the  people  this  was 
one  instrument  of  writing,  but  to  Fanning  it  was  four.  Also, 
it  was  in  evidence  that  it  was  the  custom  for  the  officers  in 
general  to  consider  it  as  more  than  one.  Fanning  claimed  that 
for  registering  the  paper  he  was  entitled  to  6s.  and  some  pence, 
but  charged  only  6s.  The  attorney-general,  on  being  consulted, 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  for  recording  every  deed  a  register 
was,  within  the  meaning  of  the  statute,  entitled  to  8s.  7d. 
Fanning  pleaded,  also,  that  not  being  certain  as  to  this  matter 
he  had,  on  assuming  his  office,  taken  the  opinion  of  the  justices 
of  the  county  court,  who  had  told  him  that  he  had  a  right  to 
6s.  and  some  pence  for  every  deed.  This,  it  was  claimed, 
removed  from  the  defendant  the  imputation  of  a  "  tortious 
taking,"  and  so  the  court  held.  With  such  a  ruling  there  was 
nothing  for  the  jury  to  do  but  impose  a  merely  nominal  penalty. 
The  matter  was  referred  for  an  opinion  to  the  attorney- general 
of  England,  who  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  deed  in  ques- 
tion entitled  the  register  to  three  fees.  He  also  stated  the 
question  of  criminal  intent  so  that  with  the  facts  in  the  case  as 


See  Colonial  Records,  VII,  847  and  884. 


AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

claimed  Fanning  could  not  legally  be  held  guilty  of  extortion.1 
The  matter  was  also  referred  to  a  Mr.  Morgan,2  of  the  Inner 
Temple,  whose  official  capacity,  if  he  had  any,  is  not  given. 
He  gave  a  decided  verdict  in  favor  of  Fanning,  stating  that 
the  latter  was  entitled  to  four  fees,  and  that  he  could  not  be 
guilty  any  way;  because  he  took  6s.,  u  not  with  intent  to  extort, 
but  through  an  involuntary  mistake."  He  closed  by  advising 
that  Fanning  move  for  a  new  trial.3  The  whole  matter  was 
in  a  sad  state,  and  the  best  remedy  was,  as  the  English  attor- 
ney-general suggested,  to  pass  an  explanatory  act  to  the  fee  bill. 
At  the  next  superior  court  at  Hillsboro,  March,  1769,  there 


V 


were  no  troops  in  the  town  and  many  Regulators  came  to  prose- 
cute the  officers.  We  have  no  official  records  of  this  court, 
\J  but  Husband  tells  us  that  the  people  met  with  small  success. 
Husband  himself  was  tried  and  acquitted,  while  Hunter's  case 
was  continued.4  Fanning  was  tried  on  the  same  old  charge. 
As  the  offense  was  committed  before  the  previous  trial,  he 
made  the  same  plea  he  had  formerly  made  and  was,  no  doubt, 
formally  convicted.  If  we  make  full  allowance  for  any  exag- 
geration that  Husband's  bias  may  have  led  him  into,  it  will 
still  appear  that  the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  courts  of  jus- 
tice must  have  been  far  from  good.  The  judge's  charges  were 
partial,  and  the  jury  was  unreliable.5 

In  Rowan  County,  in  the  same  year,  the  Regulators  at- 
tempted to  prosecute  the  officers  for  extortion.  When  the 
plaintiffs  arrived  at  court  they  found  that  the  grand  jury  was 
composed  of  their  enemies,  there  being  not  more  than  three 
men  on  it  who  were  not  officers.  They  applied  to  William 
Hooper,  recently  appointed  deputy  attorney-general,  who  drew 
up  a  bill  against  John  Frohock  for  extortion.  This  was  re- 
turned ignoramus.  Three  other  indictments  were  made  out, 
but  they  met  the  same  fate.  The  Regulators  learned  on  good 
authority  that  the  grand  jury  had  been  packed,  the  members 
sitting  not  being  those  who  had  been  at  first  chosen.6 


1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  27-29. 

*  Morgan  seems  to  have  been  merely  a  consulting  attorney  retained  in 
behalf  of  Fanning. 

3 Colonial  Records,  VIII.,  33-36,  223,  and  225, 226. 

4  lb.,  VIII,  32. 

s  Wheeler,  11,323. 

6  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  68-70. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        183 

The  next  step  taken  by  tbe  Regulators  was  in  the  line  of 
practical  politics.  Until  recently  no  suspicion  had  been  cast 
upon  the  members  of  the  assembly.  The  people  were  accus 
toined  to  leaders  and  willingly  trusted  their  affairs  in  their 
hands.  "With  no  widely  circulating  newspapers  and  no  polit- 
ical aptness,  they  formed  themselves  into  no  parties,  but 
usually  accepted  the  candidate  put  forward  by  the  officehold- 
ers, who  was  generally  either  a  member  of  or  closely  associated 
with  the  officeholding  class.  When  they  first  began  their 
agitation  the  Regulators  had  been  content  to  aim  at  the  local 
officers.  They  were  told  to  apply  to  the  courts,  where  justice 
should  be  done  them.  They  complied,  and  found  that  the  laws 
were  in  favor  of  the  officers.  They  concluded  that  the  laws 
should  be  changed.  At  the  same  time,  since  the  issue  had 
been  sharply  defined,  they  saw  that  the  assemblymen  were 
ranged  on  the  side  of  the  county  officers.  They  now  determined 
to  attack  this  office,  and  here  they  were  more  successful  than 
they  had  been  in  any  of  their  other  undertakings. 

In  the  summer  of  1769 :  the  governor  dissolved  the  assem-^ 
bly  and  ordered  the  election  of  a  new  one.  Immediately  there 
came  out  in  Orange  an  address,  written  perhaps  by  Husband, 
though  not  signed,  which  recounted  the  wrongs  of  the  people, 
declared  that  the  remedy  lay  with  the  people  themselves,  and 
called  on  all  to  arouse  themselves  from  their  "own  blind,  stu- 
pid conduct." 2  This  idea,  as  we  have  seen,  had  taken  shape  in 
Anson  when  the  Regulators  had  nominated  Charles  Robinson 
as  their  candidate  for  the  assembly,  making,  perhaps,  the  first 
political  nomination  in  America. 

The  Regulator  spirit  was  not  confined  to  Orange,  Anson, 
and  Rowan.  In  other  counties  it  was  strong  enough.  Tryon, 
in  1768,  stated  to  Lord  Hillsborough  that  a  party  of  30  men 
from  Edgecombe  County  had  tried  to  release  from  Halifax  jail 
an  insurgent  leader  who  was  confined  there,  but  that  they  had 
failed.  In  August  of  the  same  year  a  party  of  80  had  tried  to 
break  up  the  court  of  Johnston  County,  but  they  were  repulsed 
also.3  These  were  attempts  by  the  rasher  element  of  the  peo- 
ple. That  they  were  supported  by  such  small  numbers  indi- 
cates that  violence  was  not  countenanced  here  as  much  as  in 


1  Husband  says  July  10,  1768,  but  tbis  is  an  error.     Tbe  new  election 
was  beld  on  July  18, 1769.     (Of.  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  54.) 

2  Wbeeler,  II,  325-327. 

3  Colonial  Records,  VII,  884,  885. 


184  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

Orange.  That  there  was  a  strong  feeling  against  the  officers 
throughout  the  province  is  attested  by  the  results  of  the  elec- 
tion for  assemblymen.  Carteret,  Beaufort,  Anson,  Halifax,  Bla- 
den, Edgecombe,  Tyrrell,  Orange,  Granvdle,  and  Hyde  changed 
their  entire  delegations.1  Other  counties  changed  their  delega- 
tions in  part.  Out  of  the  78 2  members  of  the  new  house,  43 
j  were  new  men.3  That  all  these  new  men  represented  a  change 
in  the  political  sentiments  of  their  electors  is  not  probable. 
Not  in  all  the  counties  was  the  issue  made.  In  Orange,  Gran- 
ville, Anson,  and  Halifax,  where  the  Begulator  sentiment  was 
strong,  the  change  was  complete.  In  Bowan,  a  strong  Begula- 
tor couuty,  Griffith  Butherford,  considered  a  moderate  friend 
of  the  people,  was  retained,  but  his  yokefellow,  Frohock,  was 
dropped  and  in  his  place  Christopher  Nation,  an  ardent  Begu- 
lator, was  returned.  Perhaps  the  opinion  of  Henry  Eustace 
McCulloch  was  but  representative  of  the  ideas  of  eastern 
families  when  he  wrote  from  London  soon  after  the  election: 
"The  madness  of  the  people  must  be  great,  indeed,  to  trust 
such  wretches  as  Hermon  Husband  and  Christopher  Nation 
as  their  representatives."4 

The  cause  of  this  political  change  is  to  be  found  in  the  action 
of  the  assembly  that  met  in  November,  17G8.  This  session  left 
as  a  memorial  of  its  incompetency  several  defunct  bills.  One 
of  these  was  a  bill  to  allow  the  recovery  of  debts  of  less  than 
£5  in  value  before  one  justice  merely.  This  measure  had  been 
asked  for  in  a  petition  from  Orange,5  and  it  was  approved  in 
the  address  to  the  Orange  voters  already  mentioned.  By  order 
Banning  brought  in  the  bill  in  the  lower  house,  and  it  safely 
passed  its  several  readings,  until  finally  on  its  third  reading 
in  the  upper  house  it  was  attempted  to  add  a  "rider"  to  the 
effect  that  persons  indicted  for  riot  might  be  tried  in  any  one 
of  the  superior  courts  of  the  province,  whereupon  the  other 
house  objected,  and  as  each  party  remained  steadfast  the  bill 

1  The  list  of  assemblymen  in  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  106, 107,  should  he 
exchanged  for  that  on  pages  303,  304,  as  may  he  readily  seen  by  compar- 
ing pages  303,  304  with  pages  145-147. 

2  There  were  80  members  in  the  new  house,  but  two  of  these  represented 
Tryon,  a  county  erected  after  the  former  assembly  met,  and  they  are,  of 
course,  not  competent  in  such  a  comparison  as  we  are  now  making. 

3  Husband  says  thirty-odd  were  left  out  this  time,  and  he  hoped  to  lose 
more  the  nest  election.     (Wheeler,  II,  330.) 

4  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  183. 

5  lb.,  VII,  874  and  929,  911-912,  914,  and  915. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        185 

fell  through.  Other  rejected  measures  that  the  Regulators 
would  have  welcomed  were  bills  to  erect  a  new  county  out  of 
Orange  and  Johnston,  and  another  out  of  Orange  and  Rowan; 
a  bill  for  triennial  assemblies,  which  was  rejected  in  the  upper 
house,1  and  a  bill  to  relieve  taxation.  The  last  was  intro- 
duced by  Fanning,  passed  its  first  reading,  but  was  killed  on 
its  second  reading  in  the  lower  house.2  The  bills  to  erect 
new  counties  were  especially  desired  by  the  people,  many  of 
them,  as  they  said,  having  to  go  as  far  as  60  miles  to  attend 
court  as  it  was.  An  act,  however,  to  erect  Tryon  County  out) 
of  Mecklenburg  was  safely  passed.  The  assembly  was  also 
concerned  with  providing  pay  for  the  forces  that  had  gathered 
at  Hillsboro  in  the  preceding  autumn.  The  province  had  for 
some  time  been  trying  to  get  an  issue  of  paper  money,  but  had 
been  prevented  by  orders  from  the  English  Government.  It 
now  occurred  to  them  that  this  was  their  opportunity.  A  bill 
was  brought  in  voting  an  issue  of  £30,000  in  paper  to  be  used 
in  paying  the  troops  and  for  other  purposes.  The  cost  of  the 
preceding  campaign  had  been  only  £4,S44.3  The  vigorous 
protest  of  the  governor  and  the  upper  house  caused  the  bill 
to  be  recast,  and  it  finally  passed  as  an  act  authorizing  the 
issue  of  £20,000  to  pay  the  troops  collected  at  Hillsboro,  to 
provide  for  the  public  claims,  and  for  the  easier  collection  of 
taxes.4  It  was  thus  that  the  governor  was  induced  to  allow 
the  passage  of  a  bill  that  increased  the  paper  currency  of  the 
colony  to  a  large  extent.  There  was  one  proviso,  however, 
which  robbed  the  victory  of  half  of  its  fruits;  it  was  provided 
that  this  paper  should  not  be  a  legal  tender.  In  writing  to  the 
English  authorities  Tryon  confessed  that  he  had  been  induced  \ 
to  sign  this  bill  because  the  militia  declared  that  if  their  pay 
was  not  forthcoming  they  would  not  assemble  again  at  the  call 
of  the  government.  For  this  same  reason  the  British  Govern- 
ment approved  the  bill.5  It  has  been  claimed  that  the  cost  of 
the  campaign  of  1768  was  a  great  burden  to  the  province.     So 

1  Colonial  Records,  VII,  911. 

2  lb.,  VII,  908,  961,  and  962. 

3  lb.,  VII,  888. 

4  lb.,  VII,  915,  916,  and  VIII,  5  and  6.  This  amount  was  to  pay  the  troops, 
to  pay  for  running  the  Cherokee  boundary  line,  to  pay  the  charge  for  a 
garrison  at  Fort  Johnston,  to  pay  arrears  of  salaries,  to  pay  the  salaries, 
etc.,  of  the  assemblies  of  1767  and  1768,  and  to  provide  £1,200  due  for 
bounties  on  hemp.     (lb.,  VII,  916.) 

*  lb.,  VIII,  266,  267. 


186  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

far  from  this  being'  true,  it  may  be  asserted  with  confidence 
that  it  was  considered  by  a  large  class  of  people  as  a  posi- 
tive blessing.1  It  afforded  a  welcome  opportunity  to  increase 
the  volume  of  currency.  This  assembly  also  voted  to  repay 
Rev.  George  Micklejohn,  the  Orange  clergyman,  for  printing  a 
sermon  which  he  had  preached  before  the  troops  at  Hillsboro, 
and  in  which  he  had  declared  that  the  governor  ought  to  have 
executed  at  least  twenty  of  the  Regulators.  Such  actions  as 
these  were  calculated  to  arouse  the  opposition  of  those  who 
were  dissatisfied  with  the  officers  throughout  the  colony.  This 
class  protested.  That  x^rotest  was  measured  by  the  political 
change  in  the  composition  of  the  assembly. 

Pending  the  meeting  of  the  new  assembly  there  was  but 
little  activity  on  the  part  of  the  Regulators.  A  few  of  the 
leaders,  however,  were  not  subdued.  In  the  spring  of  1769, 
when  John  Lea,  the  sheriff  of  Orange,  went  to  serve  a  capias 
on  ISTiniau  Hamilton  and  others,  he  was  taken  by  Hamilton, 
Samuel  Devinney,  Jesse  Pugh,  and  their  friends  and  severely 
thrashed.2  The  parties  who  did  the  whipping  were  indicted, 
and  the  council  instructed  the  attorney-general  to  use  all  legal 
means  to  punish  them.3  In  Rowan  all  was  not  serene.  The 
sheriff  appointed  in  1769  could  get  no  one  to  go  on  his  bond, 
his  friends  giving  the  unsettled  state  of  the  county  as  their 
justification.4 

The  Anson  Regulators  prepared  a  petition  to  the  assembly. 
It  contained  a  remarkably  well-prepared  statement  of  their 
grievances,  and  to  it  were  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
I  signatures.  It  recounted  seven  kinds  of  political  hardships 
1  and  proposed  seventeen  points  of  redress.  The  former  are  but 
the  grievances  we  have  seen  alleged  all  along.  The  noteworthy 
items  of  the  latter  are  as  follows:  At  all  elections  the  vote 
should  be  given  by  ballot;  taxation  should  be  apportioned  on 
a  property  basis  and  not  per  capita;  taxes  might  be  paid  in 
commodities;  paper  money  should  be  issued  and  loaned  on 
land;  debts  above  40s.  and  under  £10  should  be  sued  for  with- 
out lawyers,  and  before  a  county  justice  and  a  jury  of  six;  the 
chief  justice  should  have  no  fees,  but  should  be  given  a  salary; 


1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  9. 
*  lb.,  VIII,  32. 
s  lb.,  VIII,  37. 
«Ib.,  VIII,  64. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        187 

the  fees  of  the  clerks  should  be  restricted,  and  the  assembly 
should  inform  the  King  that  the  governor  and  council  granted 
land  without  regard  to  the  legal  "  head  rights,'' x  by  which 
means  it  had  come  about  that  all  the  best  land  was  in  the  hands 
of  a  few  people,  and  poor  men  were  obliged  to  cultivate  poor 
land.  By  this  means,  it  was  alleged,  members  of  the  council 
and  their  friends  had  gotten  large  tracts.  They  asked  for 
reforms  in  regard  to  quitrents,  the  issuing  of  land  warrants, 
and  the  valuing  of  the  improvements  on  land.  They  also 
asked  that  all  denominations  have  liberty  to  conduct  the  mar 
riage  ceremony  according  to  their  respective  rites:  and,  finally, ' 
that  Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin,  or  some  other  known  patriot,  be  )< 
appointed  agent  of  the  colony  in  London.2 

This  petition,  it  may  be  said,  is  the  nearest  approach  of  the 
Regulation  to  the  Revolution.  Several  of  its  proposed  reforms 
hinted  at  a  decided  change  in  government,  and.  its  hitting  on 
Franklin  for  an  agent  looked  toward  bringing  it  into  close  re- 
lation with  the  larger  movement,  which  it  is  well  known  that 
Franklin  was  then  leading.  The  mention  of  this  patriot's  name  - 
was  perhaps  due  to  Husband,  who,  though  not  a  Regulator, 
was  doing  all  he  could  to  spread  among  the  people  a  greater 
love  of  liberty,  and  who  was  in  frequent  communication  with 
Franklin.  It  is  a  tribute  to  the  wisdom  of  the  Anson  Regula- 
tors that  many  of  these  reforms  were  afterwards,  when  North 
Carolina  had  become  a  State,  put  into  laws. 

Orange  and  Rowan  united  in  another  petition.  It  asked 
that  lawyers  and  clerks  of  the  court  should  not  be  allowed  to 
become  members  of  the  assembly; 3  that  clerks  and  other  offi- 
cers should  be  paid  a  salary;  thatlawyers  should  be  made  to 
take  only  their  legal  fees,  which  were  to  be  reduced  to  one-half 
in  compromised  cases;  that  all  clerks  should  be  removed  and 
"gentlemen  of  probity  and  integrity "  put  into  their  places; 
that  ministers  of  all  denominations  might  perform  the  marriage 
ceremony;  that  taxes  be  based  on  property;  that  small  debts 
be  recovered  before  one  magistrate  and  a  jury  of  six,  from 


1  Fifty  acres  for  each  person  brought  into  the  colony  was  the  legal 
amount  tbat  could,  be  granted.  By  law,  unless  in  special  cases,  only  640 
acres  could  be  granted  to  one  party.  (See  the  author's  C'onstitutioual 
BegiDnings  of  North  Carolina;  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  12th 
series,  p.  110,  note  1.) 

2  For  the  petition  see  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  75-80. 

3  Sheriffs  were  already  forbidden  to  be  assemblymen. 


188  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

whom  there  should  be  no  appeal;  that  inspectors'  certificates 
for  the  storage  of  imperishable  commodities  be  made  legal 
tender;  that  the  county  be  divided;  that  the  public  accounts 
be  investigated;  and,  lastly,  that  the  "yeas"  and  "nays"  in 
the  assembly  should  be  recorded.1  Besides  this  petition  the 
Rowan  Regulators  sent  Husband  a  statement  of  their  wrongs, 
and  begged  him,  as  a  representative,  to  do  what  he  could  to 
obtain  relief  for  them, 

A  very  significant  petition  on  the  other  side  came  from  the 
Presbyterians  of  Mecklenburg.  They  declare  themselves  a 
thousand  freemen,  "who  hold  to  the  Established  Church  of 
Scotland,  able  to  bear  arms;  "  that  they  are  faithful  and  loyal 
subjects;  that  they  "  uphold  the  courts  of  justice  that  the  law 
may  have  its  free  course  and  operation;"  and,  they  add,  "We 
appeal  to  his  excellency  the  governor  how  ready  and  cheer- 
ful we  were  to  support  government  in  time  of  insurrection." 
They  then  go  on  to  demand  for  the  counties  of  Mecklenburg, 
Rowan,  and  Tryon  the  repeal  of  the  vestry  and  marriage  acts, 
so  that  in  this  region  the  Scottish  church  may  be  on  the  same . 
footing  with  "  our  sister  church  of  England." 2 

Two  other  petitions  are  worthy  of  note.  One  came  to  Tryon 
from  the  Presbyterians  of  the  new  county  of  Tryon,  and  asked 
that  the  ministers  of  that  faith  be  allowed  to  perform  the  mar- 
riage rites.3  The  other  came  from  twenty-five  "friends  of 
government,"  as  Tryon  had  called  them  on  a  former  occasion, 
and  asked  that  an  inspector  of  hemp  and  tobacco  be  appointed 
for  Hillsboro.  It  was  signed  by  such  antiregulating  spirits 
as  Francis  Nash,  Rev.  Henry  Patillo,  Ralph  McNair,  and  Capt. 
James  Thackston.4 

The  assembly  met  on  the  23d  of  October.5  In  his  message 
the  governor  informed  them  that  a  petition  of  the  former 
assembly  to  the  King,  asking  for  an  issue  of  paper  money,  had 

1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  81-84. 

2  lb.,  X,  1015-1017. 

3  lb.,  VIII,  806. 
*  lb.,  VIII,  80a. 

6  Fanning  was  recognized  as  a  member  of  this  assembly,  but  by  what 
right  it  is  difficult  to  imagine.  (Colonial  Records,  VIII,  107. )  He  had  been 
defeated  in  the  preceding  election,  and  although  Tryon  created  the  bor- 
ough of  Hillsboro  that  he  might  be  returned  from  it,  this  was  not  done 
until  1770.  (lb.,  VIII,  215-217.)  His  connection  with  this  ..assembly  was 
short,  however,  for  he  soon  set  out  on  a  visit  to  New  York. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        189 

been  unsuccessful,  and  urged  thern  to  regulate  iu  a  business- 
like manner  the  nietliod  of  keeping  the  public  accounts.1  The 
upper  house  kissed  the  governor's  hand  with  accustomed  facil- 
ity, but  the  reply  of  the  lower  house  was  curt  and  a  little 
surly.2  Bills  to  regulate  attorneys'  fees  and  to  provide  an 
easy  means  of  recovering  small  debts  were  introduced  at  once, 
but  their  course  was  cut  off  by  an  event  unrelated  to  them. 
Ou  November  2  the  lower  house  passed  unanimously  some 
spirited  resolutions  on  the  cpiestions  then  at  issue  between  the 
Colonies  and  the  Eoyal  Government.3  On  November  C  Tryon, 
who  had  been  ill,  called  the  assembly  to  him,  expressed  his 
disapproval  of  the  resolutions,  and  dissolved  the  body.  Only 
five  bills  wrere  passed,  and  these  were  of  no  constitutional  sig- 
nificance.4 Just  before  it  adjourned  the  lower  house  passed  a 
resolution  declaring  that  any  person  who  opposed  the  due  col- 
lection of  taxes  should  be  rigorously  prosecuted  as  an  enemy 
of  the  country;  and~nt  the  same  time  it  declared  in  another 
resolution  that  any  officer  who  should  take  more  than  the  law- 
ful fee  should  have  the  censure  of  the  house.5  Four  days  later 
the  council  decided  to  issue  writs  for  a  new  election  in  the 
following  March.6 

The  result  of  the  elections  of  1770  shows  a  slight  reaction  in 
favor  of  the  friends  of  government,  although  it  seems  that  the 
majority  of  the  assembly  were  of  Eegulating  spirit.7  Husband 
and  Pryor  were  reelected  from  Orange,  and  to  repair  the  loss 
of  Fanning,  the  governor  erected  Hillsboro  into  a  borough, 
from  which  Fanning  was  promptly  returned.8 

As  soon  as  the  assembly  met  it  took  up  the  work  of  reform. 
Some  progress  was  in  a  fair  way  of  being  made  when  the  whole 
legislative  body  was  thrown  into  terror  by  news  from  Hills- 
boro.    The  Eegulators  in  that  section  had  become  well-nigh 

1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  86-89. 

2  lb.,  VIII,  91,  92  and  113-115. 

3  For  these  resolves  see  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  122. 

4  lb.,  VIII,  139-141  and  170, 171. 

5  lb.,  VIII,  139. 

6  lb.,  VIII,  150, 151. 

7  lb.,  VIII,  270. 

8  lb.,  VIII,  215.  The  Regulators  claimed  that  it  was  due  to  Thomas 
Hart  that  Fanning  was  elected.  Hart  was  rewarded  by  having  a  bill 
passed  giving  him  £1,000  for  losses,  which,  it  was  said,  Hart  never  sus- 
tained (Carutbers's  Life  of  Caldwell,  p.  117;  see  also  Colonial  Records, 
VIII,  230). 


\^y 


190  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

desperate.  They  had  tried  petitions  to  the  governor  and  the 
assembly,  and  they  had  tried  the  courts.  From  neither  had 
they  gotten  relief.  During  the  summer  of  1770  they  prepared 
a  petition  to  the  officers  of  the  superior  court  iu  which  they 
again  recounted  their  wrongs.1  They  prayed  for  unprejudiced 
juries,  for  fair  trials  of  the  extortionate  officers,  and  for  a 
proper  settlement  of  the  public  accounts  by  the  sheriffs.  The 
frame  of  mind  to  which  they  had  come  is  best  shown  by  the 
following  sentence: 

Our  only  crime  with  which  they  can  charge  us  is  vertue  in  the  very 
highest  degree,  namely,  to  risque  our  all  to  save  our  country  from  rapine 
and  slavery  in  our  detecting  of  practices  which  the  law  itself  allows  to  be 
worse  than  open  robbery.     *     *  As  we  are  serious  and  in  good  earnest, 

and  the  cause  respects  the  whole  body  of  the  people,  it  would  be  a  loss  of 
time  to  enter  into  argument  on  particular  points,  for  though  there  is  a  few 
men  who  have  the  gift  or  art  of  reasoning,  yet  every  man  has  a  feeling 
and  knows  when  he  has  justice  done  him  as  well  as  the  most  learned.'2 

This  had  an  ominous  sound. 

The  superior  court  at  Hillsboro  met  on  September  22,  which 
was  Saturday.  On  that  day  James  Hunter  presented  the 
above-mentioned  petition  to  Eichard  Henderson,  the  only 
justice  who  was  on  the  bench  at  that  term.  The  matter  was 
deferred  till  the  following  Monday.  On  Monday  the  court  had 
hardly  met  when  about  150  Regulators,  among  whom  were 
Hunter,  Howell,  Husband,  Butler,  Hamilton,  and  Devinney, 
crowded  into  the  room.  Jeremiah  Fields,  one  of  their  number, 
rose  and  asked  the  court  for  leave  to  speak.  Permission  was 
given,  and  Fields  began  by  saying  that  the  Regulators  had 
understood  that  the  judge  had  decided  not  to  try  their  causes 
at  that  term ;.  that  they  were  determined  to  have  them  tried, 
and  that  if  the  court  would  take  them  up  it  might  prevent 
mischief.  They  insisted,  also,  that  the  jury  that  had  been 
selected  by  the  county  court  should  be  changed.  After  about 
half  an  hour  of  this  talk,  during  which  the  judge  tried  to 
pacify  them,  they  retired  from  the  room  for  consultation. 
They  nearly  all  carried  switches  or  sticks,  and  while  they  stood 
around  the  court-house  an  unfortunate  lawyer,  John  Williams,3 

'  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  231-234. 

2  lb.,  VIII,  p.  234. 

3  Williams,  judging  by  entries  on  the  docket,  received  a  good  share  of 
the  business  at  this  court.  He  was  probably  the  same  lawyer  with  whom 
we  afterwards  find  Nash  transacting  business  (ib.,  IX,  363),  when  he  appears 
as  Col.  John  Williams.     If  so,  be  made  his  borne  in  Surrey,  and  later  moved 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        191 

started  to  enter  the  building.  This  was  too  much  for  the 
angered  crowd.  They  fell  upon  him  and  administered  a  severe 
thrashing  until  he  took  refuge  in  a  neighboring  house.  Peace- 
ful methods  were  now  cast  aside.  The  crowd  rushed  into  the 
court-house  for  Fanning,  who,  in  terror,  sought  for  protection  on 
the  bench.  This  did  not  help  him.  They  seized  him,  dragged 
him  into  the  street,  and  beat  him  until  he,  as  Richard  Hender- 
son said,  "by  a  manly  exertion  miraculously  broke  holt  and 
fortunately  jumped  into  a  door  that  saved  him  from  immediate 
dissolution."  From  this  retreat  he  was  brought  out,  but  was 
allowed  to  go  to  his  home  on  his  promise  to  surrender  himself 
the  following  morning.  Thomas  Hart,  Michael  Holt,  Alex- 
ander Martin,  "  and  many  others"  were  also  whipped.  Several 
who  were  wanted  saved  themselves  by  flying. 

The  next  morning  Fanning  gave  himself  up.  The  Regula- 
tors, after  some  deliberation,  announced  to  him  that  they  would 
release  him  on  condition  that  he  would  agree  to  take  the  road 
and  keep  running  till  he  was  out  of  sight,  conditions  with 
which  he  most  likely  complied  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  They 
tben  repaired  to  his  new  and  pretentious  dwelling,  which  was 
especially  detestable  to  them  as  being  built  out  of  what  they 
held  to  be  illegal  fees.  They  surrounded  it,  burned  the  papers, 
broke  the  furniture  found  in  it,  and  finally  demolished  the 
structure.  It  was  charged  that  they  took  a  sum  cf  money  from 
it,  but  this  they  emphatically  and  indignantly  denied.1 

]STo  indignity  had  been  offered  to  the  judge,  except  some 
threats  by  the  more  unruly  of  the  crowd.  In  the  beginning 
James  Hunter  had  assured  him  he  should  be  protected.  In  the 
afternoon  of  Monday  he  was  allowed  to  adjourn  court  until 
next  day,  and  was  then  escorted,  with  some  parade,  to  his 
lodging.    The  Regulators  demanded  that  he  should  proceed 


to  Tennessee.  (lb.,  IX,  370,  and  Wheeler,  II,  409. )  His  going  to  Tennessee 
was  due  to  his  appointment  as  agent  for  the  company  which  in  1774-75 
was  attempting  to  organize  the  Transylvania  tract.  (Colonial  Records,  X, 
256,  382.) 

1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  260.  In  1773  Fanning  was  suing  to  recover 
damages  for  this  loss.  He  was  induced  by  Governor  Martin  to  withdraw 
his  suits  and  trust  to  an  appeal  to  the  assembly.  Martin  made  the  ap- 
peal. The  lower  house  replied  that  to  pay  the  claim  would  create  discon- 
tent in  the  back  counties,  and  refused  to  vote  indemnity.  The  governor 
protested,  pleading  his  promise  to  Fanning,  but  the  assembly  remained 
unmoved.     (Colonial  Records,  IX,  548,  551-552,  560-562.) 


192  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

with  their  cases,  without  allowing  any  lawyers  but  the  attorney - 
generalin  the  courtroom,  and  that  the  jury  should  be  changed. 
The  judge  promised  this  with  alacrity,  but  about  10  o'clock  at 
night  he  mounted  a  fast  horse  and  quietly  stole  away,  leaving 
the  court  adjourned  in  course.1  After  venting  their  fury  on 
Fanning's  property,  the  crowd,  seeing  that  the  judge  was 
gone,  went  to  the  court  room,  secured  the  docket,  and  called 
over  the  cases,  entering  their  own  judgment  or  comments 
on  each  case.  There  on  the  pages  one  finds  to  this  day  the 
memorials  of  their  futile  protest  against  what  they  knew  was 
wrong,  but  knew  not  how  to  remedy.  One  reads  such  expres- 
sions as  the  following:  "Damned  rogue;"  "Fanning  must 
pay;"  "  Hogau  pays  and  be  damned,-"  "Fanning  pays,  but 
loses  nothing;  "  "Judgment  by  default,  the  money  must  come 
of  the  officers."2 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  justness  of  the  cause  of  the 
Regulators,  we  must  readily  agree  that  their  conduct  on  this 
occasion  was  illegal.  As  it  turned  out,  they  could  do  nothing 
but"  obstruct  the  court.  The  fault  lay  in  the  system  of  govern- 
ment in  force  in  the  colony.  With  such  a  strongly  centralized 
government,  there  was  no  avenue  by  which  the  people  had 
access  to  reform.  The  ideas  of  government  held  by  the  royal 
agents  and  their  numberless  hangers-on  who  swooped  down  on 
the  defenseless  colonists  made  it  impossible  that  these  agents 
should  ever  understand  even  the  point  of  view  of  the  protest- 
ing people.  Their  action  here  can  but  seem  like  a  mad  rush 
against  fate.  The  people  seem  so  to  have  regarded  it.  In 
1768  from  three  to  four  thousand  had  come  down  to  rescue  the 
two  prisoners,  but  now  not  so  many  hundred  took  part  in  the 
proceedings. 

News  of  this  trouble  sent  a  chill  of  fear  throughout  the 
province.  The  officers  in  Orange  asked  that  the  assembly  be 
convened  at  once,3  and  the  attorney-general  advised  the  same 
thing,4  but  inasmuch  as  that  body  was  already  to  meet  on 
November  30,  and  as  Fanning  reported  the  country  quiet,  the 
council  decided  that  there  was  no  need  for  an  extra  session. 

'  We  have  here  followed  chiefly  the  narrative  of  Richard  Henderson, 
which  hears  evidence  of  heing  impartial  in  its  essential  points.  (Colonial 
Records,  VIII,  241-244.) 

2  lb.,  VIII,  236-240. 

3  lb.,  VIII  246,  247. 

4  lb.,  V.III,  252.- 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.         193 

The  governor  asked  the  attorney-general  to  say  whether  or  not 
the  action  of  the  Hillsboro  mob  could  be  dealt  with  as  treason. 
The  reply  was  in  the  negative.  All  that  could  be  made  of  the 
case  was  a  riot  and,  because  it  was  an  insult  to  the  court,  a 
misdemeanor.  It  was  pointed  out  that,  under  existing  law  it 
was  necessary  to  try  the  offenders  in  the  superior  court  district 
in  which  they  resided,  where,  it  was  evident,  no  process  could 
be  served  on  account  of  the  feeling  of  the  country.  It  wasi 
suggested  that  in  each  county  the  militia  be  mustered  in 
order  to  learn  who  would  serve  against  the  insurgents.1  This 
suggestion  was  adopted  by  the  council.2  Also  the  justices  of 
the  peace  throughout  the  province  were  commanded  by  proc- 
lamation to  take  and  transmit  to  the  governor  all  depositions 
that  might  be  had  in  connection  with  the  above  disorders. 

To  add  to  the  alarm  felt  by  the  government  at  Newbern 
there  came  the  tidings  of  another  outrage.  In  Granville,  on 
the  night  of  the  12th  of  November,  Richard  Henderson's  barn 
and  stables  were  burned,  and  two  nights  later  his  dwelling  was 
also  destroyed.  It  was  believed  by  the  government  party  that 
the  Eegulators  had  fired  these  buildings.  Straight  upon  the 
heels  of  this  report  came  the  rumor  that  the  insurgents  were 
preparing  to  come  down  to  Newbern  at  the  coming  session 
of  the  assembly  in  order  to  overawe  it.  The  panic-stricken 
council  offered  a  reward  for  the  discovery  of  the  incendiaries 
and  called  on  the  counties  intervening  between  Hillsboro  and 
Newbern  to  hold  their  militia  in  readiness  to  intercept  the 
threatened  march.3  Eleven  days  after  this  happened  the  assem- 
bly was  called  to  convene,  but  it  was  only  on  December  5  that 
a  quorum  was  present.  On  the  day  before  this  a  report  came 
from  Pitt  County  that  the  Regulators  of  Bute  and  Johnston 
were  marching  on  ISTewbern  to  prevent  Fanning  from  taking 
his  seat  for  the  pocket  borough  of  Hillsboro.  The  council, 
trembling  with  terror,  called  out  the  Craven  regiment  to  guard 
the  town. 4  i 

While  these  reports  were  flying  the  assembly  met.5    Born  as  "V + 

1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  251,  252. 

2  lb.,  VIII,  253. 

3  lb.,  VIII,  258-260. 

4  lb.,  VIII,  262.     Newborn  was  in  Craven  County. 

5  Caruthers  prints  a  story,  which  is  possibly  true,  though  the  record*  do 
not  mention  it.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  when  Husband  went  to  the 
assembly  he  carried  with  him  the  amount  which  the  Regulators  claimed 
was  their  just  taxes.     When  his  name  was  called  the  governor  asked  why 

H.  Mis.  91 13 


194  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

it  was  in  terror,  it  is  not  surprising  that  it  should  have  passed 
away  in  blood.  Its  first  object  of  vengeance  was  Husband, 
who  was  one  of  the  members  from  Orange.  He  was  pounced 
on  for  a  circular  letter  addressed  to  Maurice  Moore,  one  of  the 
associate  justices  of  the  superior  courts  and  a  member  of  the 
assembly.  This  letter  was  signed  "James  Hunter,"  but  Hus- 
band was  declared  to  have  written  it.  It  was  branded  as  "a 
false  and  seditious  libel,'1  and  Husband  was  charged  with  pub- 
lishing it.  Other  charges  against  him  were  falsehood  before 
the  committee  on  propositions  and  grievances,  and  a  threat  that 
if  imprisoned  he  would  bring  down  his  friends  to  release  him. 
The  result  was  that  Husband  was  expelled  the  house.1  The 
council  thereupon  sent  for  the  minutes  of  the  assembly,  and, 
satisfying  themselves  as  to  the  expulsion  of  Husband,  unani- 
mously resolved  that  it  would  be  disastrous  for  him  to  rejoin 
the  Eegulators.  They  requested  the  chief  justice  to  have  him 
arrested,  which  was  accordingly  done.2 

This  was  not  what  had  been  expected.  Iredell  says  that  on 
December  15  the  "majority  of  the  house  were  of  Regulating 
principles." 3  Then  why  were  they  so  easily  influenced  ?  This 
change  was  wrought  by  two  agencies:  (1)  Fear,  incident  to  the 
alarming  reports  that,  whether  true  or  false,  were  brought  to 
Newbern;  and  (2)  an  agreement  with  the  Presbyterians  by 
which  a  college  was  to  be  chartered  in  Mecklenburg  County,  and 
by  which  Presbyterian  ministers  might  perform  the  marriage 
ceremony,4  in  exchange  for  the  support  of  that  denomination 
in  measures  against  the  Regulators.5  The  majority  did  not  go 
over  entirely  to  the  other  side.  They  still  held  to  their  position 
of  regulating  the  abuses  of  government,  but  they  joined  the 

the  King's  subjects  in  Orange  had  not  paid  their  taxes.  Husband  replied 
that  the  people  owed  his  excellency,  as  they  believed,  so  much  butter,  but, 
as  that  was  apt  to  stick  to  the  fingers  to  prevent  waste  they  had  sent  it  by 
their  representative,  who  was  ready  to  pay  it  to  the  treasurer  if  he  could 
get  the  proper  receipt.  He  then  walked  to  the  speaker's  table  and,  placing 
a  bag  of  coin  on  it,  said:  "Here  are  the  taxes  which  are  refused  to  your 
sheriff."     (Cf.  Life  of  Caldwell,  pp.  134, 135.) 

1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  268,  269,  and  330,  331. 

2  lb.,  VIII,  269,  270. 

3  lb.,  VIII,  270. 

4  lb.,  VIII,  486  and  526. 

sJhis  is  generally  charged  by  all  the  writers  on  the  subject,  and  the  facts 
of  the  case  make  the  charge  a  probable  one.  (See  Colonial  Records,  VIII, 
527. % 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        195 

governor's  side  in  passing-  a  bill  against  the  illegal  acts  of  the 
Regulators.  On  this  point  their  position  was  enunciated  in 
their  reply  to  the  governor's  message.  They  said:  "The  late 
daring  and  insolent  attack  made  on  the  superior  court  at 
Hillsboro  by  the  people  who  call  themselves  Regulators  we 
hold  in  the  utmost  detestation  and  abhorrence." ' 

On  December  15  Samuel  Johnston,  of  Chowan,  one  of  the 
oldest  counties,  brought  in  a  bill  for  suppressing  riots.  It  was 
an  emergency  law  and  was  to  expire  in  one  year.  It  gave  tbe 
attorney-general  authority  to  try  charges  of  riot  in  any  supe- 
rior court  as  he  saw  fit,  declared  outlaws  those  who  avoided 
for  sixty  days  the  summonses  of  this  court,2  aud  authorized  the 
governor  to  call  out  the  militia  to  enforce  the  law. 3  As  soon 
as  this  bill  was  read  it  was  tabled,  and  the  house  immediately 
appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  bill  regulating  officers' 
fees. 4  All  efforts  were  then  bent  to  passing  reformatory  laws, 
until,  on  December  31,  the  Regulators  themselves  precipitated 
action.  On  that  day  it  was  reported  that  a  large  body  of  Regu- 
lators were  assembled  with  wagons  and  provisions  at  Cross 
Creek  preparatory  to  marching  on  Newbern.  The  governor 
asked  for  an  appropriation  to  meet  the  attack  and  received 
£500  to  protect  the  town.5  Two  days  later  the  lower  house 
took  from  the  table  Johnston's  riot  bill  and  pushed  it  so  rap- 
idly that  just  a  week  later  it  was  passed  for  the  third  time  by 
the  upper  house  and  ordered  to  be  engrossed.6  At  the  same 
time  the  committee  on  propositions  and  grievances  reported  at 
length  on  the  state  of  the  country.  They  condemned  extor- 
tionate fees,  denounced  as  "a  real  grievance"  the  opposition  of 
the  Regulators  to  the  sheriffs  and  the  courts,  and  recom- 
mended that  the  leaders  of  the  insurgents  be  brought  to  sum- 


1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  312. 

2  Such  an  outlaw  might  be  killed  with  impunity.  It  was  this  feature, 
and  not,  as  Saunders  seemed  to  have  thought,  the  entire  law,  that  the 
English  Government  objected  to.  They  declared  that  it  was  not  fit  for 
the  British  Kingdom,  and,  although  they  thought  some  severe  law  might 
be  justified  in  the  condition  of  affairs  in  North  Carolina,  they  still  advised 
the  assembly,  if  it  intended  to  reenact  the  law,  to  leave  out  this  clause. 
(Colonial  Records,  IX,  238,  248,  285,  289,  and  366. )  The  law  expired  in  a 
year  and  was  not  renewed. 

3  The  text  of  the  act  is  given  in  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  481-486. 

4  lb.,  VIII,  319,  320  and  270. 
6  lb.,  VIII,  345-346. 

6  lb.,  VIII,  356,  388  and  390. 


196  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

mary  punishment.1  The  legislature  then  went  on  to  pass  a  bill 
to  amend  the  act  for  appointing  sheriffs  and  to  direct  their 
duty  in  office;  a  bill  to  ascertain  attorneys'  fees;  an  act  more 
strictly  to  regulate  officers'  fees;  an  act  for  the  more  speedy 
collection  of  debts  under  £5;  an  act  to  grant  the  chief  justice 
a  salary,  and  acts  to  erect  the  counties  of  Wake,  Guilford, 
Chatham,  and  Surry,  all  lying  in  the  region  infected  with  the 
Regulator  spirit.  All  these  laws  contained  reforms  sought  by 
the  Regulators.2 

Tryou  did  not  wait  to  see  what  effect  these  laws  would  have. 
The  first  law  he  signed  was  the  riot  law.  He  at  once  ordered 
the  arrest  of  the  leaders  of  the  mob  concerned  in  the  Hillsboro 
riots.  Had  he  waited  for  a  time  the  new  laws  might  have 
worked  the  reform  that  was  necessary  to  quiet  the  discon- 
tented. Four  days  after  the  act  was  ratified  he  informed  the 
council  that  the  Regulators  were  still  assembling  in  Orange, 
and  asked  for  counsel.  He  was  advised  to  call  a  special  term 
of  the  court  of  oyer  and  terminer  at  Newbern  under  the  recent 
act.  This  court  met  on  February  2, 1771.  It  first  took  up  the 
case  of  Husband,  who  had  lain  in  the  jail  at  Newbern  since 
his  arrest  on  December  20,  1770,  no  one,  as  Tryon  said,  offer- 
ing to  go  on  his  bond.3  The  case  went  to  the  grand  jury,  who 
found  "no  bill,"  and  the  prisoner  was  released.4 

Tryon's  procedure  in  this  matter  has  been  pronounced  ex  post 
facto.  There  is  in  his  favor  this  modifying  circumstance:  The 
act  in  question  was  not  a  new  law  in  the  strict  sense;  it  was 
merely  an  attempt  to  make  more  effective  the  English  riot  law, 
which  held  in  all  the  British  colonies.  No  new  offense  was 
created  by  it,  but  only  the  method  of  procedure  was  changed. 
The  fact  that  the  whole  provincial  judiciary  supported  the 
governor  in  his  position  indicates  that  it  was  generally  con- 
sidered a  good  law  at  that  time.  The  point  at  which  the  gov- 
ernor is  most  at  a  disadvantage  is  that  he  should  have  kept 
Husband  in  prison  for  so  long  a  time  on  a  charge  which  the 
grand  jury  at  once  pronounced  insufficient.5    The  people  of 

1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  388,  389. 

3  For  list  of  bills  passed  see  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  428, 429,  and  477, 478. 

3  lb.,  VIII,  494. 

4  lb.,  VIII,  511, 546.  ' 

5  The  records  show  plainly  that  Husband  was  imprisoned  really  to  keep 
him  away  from  the  Regulators.  The  charge  of  libel  was  merely  a  subter- 
fuge,    (lb.,  VIII,  269.) 


REGULATOES  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        197 

Orange  were  convinced  of  the  injustice  of  the  imprisonment, 
and  when  the  prisoner  was  released  they  had  already  assembled 
to  march  to  Newbern  in  order  to  liberate  him.  When  they  re- 
ceived the  news  that  he  was  at  large  they  quietly  dispersed.1 
This  had  caused  a  paroxysm  of  terror,  and  the  government  had 
hastily  called  out  the  regiments  of  Dobbs,  Johnston,  and  Wake 
counties. 

Tryon,  as  he  says,  was  not  satisfied  with  the  temper  of  the 
grand  jury  just  mentioned  and  was  "  unpleased  with  the 
discharge  of  Husband."  He  dismissed  that  term  of  the  court 
and  called  another  for  March  11.  The  sheriffs  of  the  several 
counties  in  the  district  were  directed  to  select  as  jurymen  only 
"  gentlemen  of  the  first  rank,  property,  and  probity  in  their 
respective  counties."2  This  the  governor  admits  with  the 
frankness  that  indicates  that  he  considered  his  attempt  to 
influence  the  course  of  justice  as  within  his  prerogative.  By 
strenuous  efforts  witnesses  were  also  brought  down  from 
Orange.  As  a  result  everyone  of  the  sixty-two  indictments 
that  were  presented  was  returned  "a  true  bill."3  The  wit- 
nesses that  went  before  the  grand  jury  in  these  cases  were  all 
on  one  side,  most  of  them  being  officers.  The  riot  law  declared 
that  these  defendants  would  be  considered  outlaws  if  they  did 
not  appear  for  trial  within  sixty  days.  Accordingly  another 
court  was  called  for  two  months  later,  and  to  it  these  bills 
were  made  returnable. 

This  grand  jury  was  composed,  as  Tryon  wrote,  "of  the  most 
respectable  persons,"  that  is  to  say,  of  the  colonial  aristocracy. 
They  met  the  governor  by  appointment  in  the  palace  and 
"  unanimously  and  thankfully  accepted"  his  offer  to  go  at  the 
head  of  an  armed  force  to  suppress  the  insurgents.  At  the 
same  time  they  signed  the  "  association  " 4  themselves.  The 
gentlemen  on  the  Cape  Fear  River  entered  into  "  an  associa- 
tion of  similar  purpose  and  intent." 5 

In  the  meantime  energetic  preparations  were  made  for  a 

1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  500. 

2  The  juries  of  the  superior  court  were  chosen  from  names  sent  in  by  the 
sheriffs  of  the  counties  in  the  superior  court  district. 

3  For  lists  of  indictments  and  of  witnesses  see  Colonial  Records,  VIII, 
530-532. 

4  The  association  was  an  agreement  of  loyalists,  bound  by  oaths,  that 
they  would  support  the  King's  Government  in  the  colony.  (Cf.  Colonial 
Records,  VIII,  549.) 

5  lb.,  VIII,  546-548. 


198  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

military  expedition  to  Orange.  Two  columns  were  to  move  at 
once  on  Hillsboro.  One  of  these  was  to  be  composed  of  the 
men  of  the  Oape  Fear  section  under  the  command  of  Gen. 
Hugh  Waddell.  It  was  to  march  first  to  Salisbury  and  thence 
to  Hillsboro,  where  it  was  to  be  joined  to  the  second  column, 
which  was  to  be  commanded  by  the  governor  in  person,  and 
was  to  march  directly  from  Newbern  to  that  place.  Try  on  was 
distinctively  a  military  man  and  no  doubt  delighted  in  the 
work  now  before  him.  He  was  the  more  anxious  to  make  the 
expedition  a  success  inasmuch  as  it  was  likely  to  be  his  last 
official  action  in  the  province.  In  February  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed governor  of  New  York,  with  instructions  to  proceed  at 
once  to  his  new  post  of  duty. ! 

Love  of  canrpaigning  was  not  Tryon's  only  reason  for  this 
expedition.  During  March  a  letter  from  Rednap  Howell  to 
James  Hunter,  both  leading  Regulators,  had  been  intercepted. 
In  this  it  was  stated  that  it  would  have  been  no  trouble  to 
raise  the  country  in  the  region  of  Halifax  for  the  release  of  Hus- 
band; that  the  Regulation  was  about  to  be  established  there, 
and  that  if  once  there  it  would  soon  run  into  Edgecombe,  Bute, 
and  Northampton  counties.  Howell  also  wrote  that  he  was 
told  that  the  militia  of  Craven  and  Dobbs  would  not  fight 
against  the  Regulators.2  He  had  heard  that  the  clerks'  places 
in  the  new  counties  "are  parceled  out  among  the  quality; 
*  *  *  but  if  you  suffer  any  rascal  to  come  there  may  eter- 
nal oppression  be  your  lot."  He  closed  by  saying:  "However, 
if  this  be  true,  the  day  is  ours  in  spite  of  Lucifer.  I  give  out 
here  that  the  Regulators  are  determined  to  whip  everyone  that 
goes  to  law,  or  will  not  pay  his  just  debts,3  or  will  not  agree  to 
leave  his  cause  to  men  where  disputes  [sic];  that  they  will 
choose  representatives,  but  not  send  them  to  be  put  in  jail;  in 
short,  to  stand  in  defiance,  and  as  to  thieves,  to  drive  them  out 
of  the  country."  However  friendly  one  may  be  to  the  Regu- 
lators, he  must  see  in  this  a  movement  which  the  British  Gov- 
ernment of  the  time  could  not  allow  to  proceed.  At  the  same 
time  the  chief  justice  and  his  associates  in  reply  to  an  inquiry 
reported:  "We  submit  it  to  your  excellency  as  our  opinion 


1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  498. 

2  He  was  misled  in  this  respect,  as  these  counties  furnished  considerable 
detachments  in  the  campaign  that  was  then  beginning. 

:i  Au  illustration  of  the  Regulators'  method  of  doing  justice  may  be  bad 
by  consulting  the  Colonial  Records,  X,  1018,  101'J. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        199 

that  we  caii  not  attend"  the  March  term  of  the  Hillsboro 
court  "with  any  hopes  of  transacting  the  business  of  it,  or, 
indeed,  with  any  prospects  of  personal  safety  to  ourselves." 
These  two  letters  were  read  to  the  council,  and  it  was  resolved 
that  the  governor  should  immediately  raise  a  body  of  militia 
and  march  against  the  insurgents.1 

As  indicated  by  Howell's  letter,  the  spirit  of  the  Regulators 
was  more  defiant  than  ever.  Their  meetings  were  kept  up 
with  much  restlessness.  On  March  C  Waigh still  Avery,  a 
lawyer  of  note,  came  upon  one  of  these  assemblages,  contain- 
ing more  than  200  men.  in  Rowan.  These  people,  disappointed 
in  the  revenge  they  had  expected  in  releasing  Husband,  had 
now  turned  their  steps  toward  Salisbury  court.2  Avery  was 
arrested  and  held  some  hours  in  their  camp.  He  heard  their 
dire  threats  against  the  officers.  They  swore  that  since  the 
riot  law  was  passed  they  would  kill  every  clerk  and  lawyer. 
They  declared  that  the  governor  was  a  friend  of  the  lawyers, 
that  the  assembly  had  worsted  the  Regulation  and  that  they 
would  pay  no  fees.  They  seemed  especially  angry  at  Maurice 
Moore  and  Richard  Henderson,  and  declared  that  after  the 
22d  of  March  Fanning  should  be  considered  an  outlaw,  whom 
any  Regulator  might  kill  on  sight.  To  all  these  statements 
Avery  made  affidavits 

Rowan  court  was  then  in  session  and  it  was  so  alarmed  that 
it  adjourned  and  the  loyal  militia  of  the  county  was  called 
out.  Three  companies  responded,  and  these  were  afterwards 
joined  by  70  or  80  men  from  Mecklenburg.  This  was  a  small 
defense  against  the  force  the  Regulators  could  bring,  and  the 
neutrals  cried  out  for  relief  from  this  constant  recurrence  of 
terrorism.  The  officers  decided  to  capitulate.  It  was  agreed 
to  leave  the  matter  at  issue  to  arbitrators,  and  that  if  these 
should  decide  that  illegal  fees  had  been  taken  the  officers 
should  refund  the  excess.  The  Regulators  chose  as  referees 
Herinon  Husband,  James  Graham,  James  Hunter,  and  Thomas 
Person.  The  other  side  chose  Matthew  Locke,  John  Kerr, 
Samuel  Young,  and  James  Smith.  Alexander  Martin  and 
John  Frohock  reported  the  matter  to  Tryon.  Their  eagerness 
to  put  the  matter  before  him  in  a  favorable  light  is  apparent. 

1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  536-539. 

2  lb.,  VIII,  534. 

3  For  Avery's  affidavit  see  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  518-520. 


200  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

They  said  they  felt  confident  of  his  approval.1  If  they  meant 
this  they  were  rudely  disappointed.  Tryon  wrote  with  fine 
sarcasm  that  of  course  if  they  had  abused  their  trust  they 
ought  to  make  restitution.  To  that  he  was  entirely  willing, 
hut  he  did  not  approve  of  their  action  in  entering  into  nego- 
tiations with  insurgents  and  binding  officers  who  were  respon- 
sible to  government  alone.  He  added  that  he  was  about  to 
march  with  an  army  into  the  country  of  the  Regulators,  and 
he  thought  this  would  be  a  more  effective  means  of  settlement 
than  the  Rowan  agreement.2  The  arbitrators  were  to  have 
met  on  May  21,  but  the  battle  of  Alamance  coming  on  the 
10th,  the  result  was  in  favor  of  Tryon's  method. 3 

The  Regulators  for  their  part  protested  to  the  governor 
against  raising  an  army  to  produce  commotions.  They  said 
they  had  resolved  that  if  he  did  come  every  man  would  take 
his  horse  from  his  plow  and  meet  the  governor  "  to  know  for 
certain  whether  you  are  really  determined  to  suppress  all  the 
disturbers  of  the  public  peace  and  to  punish  according  to  their 
deserts  the  original  offenders  in  government."  If  so,  they 
would  help  him,  but  if  he  designed  to  support  "that  tyranny 
which  has  so  long  been  premeditated  by  some  officers  of  the 
province  we  will  contend  for  our  just  rights  and  humbly  entreat 
you,  sir,  to  return  with  your  men  where  there  may  be  more 
need  of  them — our  civil  liberties  are  certainly  more  dear  to  us 
than  the  good  opinion  of  a  ruler,  though  both  are  desirable." 
They  accused  the  assembly  of  violating  the  British  constitu- 
tion in  that  they  "  paid  very  little  regard  to  that  bulwark  of 
life,  the  habeas  corpus,  when  they  enacted  for  a  law  the  court 
of  oyer,  to  be  held  at  ]STewberne  for  the  trial  of  riots,  where  the 
accused  persons  must  attend,  though  living  in  the  most  remote 
parts  of  the  province." 4 

Tryon  paid  no  attention  to  this  protest,  but  continued  to  levy 
troops.  On  March  19  he  called  on  the  colonels  of  the  counties 
to  secure  volunteers.     He  gave  orders  to  raise  2,550  men.5 

i  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  533-536. 

2Ib.,  VIII,  545. 

3  It  was  told  to  Caruthers  that  such  a  meeting  did  actually  take  place 
in  West  Guilford  and  that  restitution  was  made  there.     Another  meeting 
was  arranged  for  East  Guilford,  but  failed  to  occur  for  the  same  reason 
that  the  Rowan  meeting  failed.     (Cf.  Life  of  Caldwell,  p.  143.) 
•»  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  543,  544. 

sib.,  VIII,  697. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        201 

To  get  these  was  not  an  easy  thing.  In  Bute  not  a  man  could 
be  enlisted.1  According  to  Howell  other  counties  were  reluc- 
tant. A  bounty  of  40s.  was  offered  to  each  volunteer,  and  this 
had  its  effect.  The  20th  of  April  was  fixed  as  the  day  on  which 
the  eastern  column  should  leave  Newbern.2  Three  days  later 
than  that  the  march  began.  When  the  body  had  reached 
Johnston  Court  House  there  were  present  detachments  from 
Craven,  Carteret,  Orange,  Beaufort,  New  Hanover,  Onslow, 
Dobbs,  and  Johnston,3  besides  an  artillery  company.  At  this 
place  the  Wake  militia  presented  themselves,  but  with  no 
arms.  This  seems  to  have  been  a  ruse  to  keep  from  serving. 
A  smaller  detachment,  however,  joined  the  army  next  day  and 
was  detailed  to  assist  the  sheriff  in  collecting  taxes  in  Wake.4 
The  majority  of  this  force  came  from  Orange  and  Dobbs,  each 
having  four  companies.  Craven  came  next  with  three.  In  all 
there  were  917  rank  and  file  and  151  officers.5  The  western 
column,  which  at  that  time  was  going  its  allotted  course  under 
General  Waddell,  contained  230  rank  and  file  and  18  officers, 
besides  an  artillery  company.  They  came  from  Anson.  Rowan, 
Mecklenburg,  and  Tryon  counties.6 

On  May  9  the  governor  reached  Hillsboro  without  any 
inconvenience.  On  the  same  day  General  Waddell,  who  had 
just  left  Salisbury,  crossed  the  Yadkin,  where  he  was  met  and 
stopped  by  a  large  body  of  Regulators.7  A  council  of  officers 
decided  that  in  view  of  the  numerical  superiority  of  the  enemy, 
and  because  their  own  men  could  not  be  relied  on  to  fire  on 


1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  552.  The  colonel  was  removed  from  command 
of  this  militia  hecanse  he  did  not  raise  volunteers.     (lb.,  671,  672.) 

2  lb.,  VIII,  540,541. 
3 lb.,  VIII,  574. 

4  lb.,  VIII,  577. 

fi  After  the  battle  of  Alamance  the  detachment  from  Wake  and  a  com- 
pany of  light  infantry  rejoined  with  100  rank  and  file  and  16  officers. 
(Colonial  Records,  VIII,  677.)  The  order  of  battle  seems  to  contradict  this, 
(lb.,  583-584.) 

6  lb.,  VIII,  607. 

7  Caruthers  says  that  the  Regulators  surrounded  Waddell  and  took  many 
of  his  men  and  that  he  finally  escaped  across  the  Yadkin  to  Salisbury 
with  but  few  followers.  (Life  of  Caldwell,  p.  145.)  Neither  Waddell's 
own  journal  nor  Tryou's  reports  of  the  campaign  mention  anything 
which  could  be  construed  into  such  an  occurrence.  Caruthers's  informa- 
tion was  verbal  and  was  secured  seventy  years  after  the  events  described. 
He  was  doubtless  misinformed. 


202  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

them,  it  would  be  prudent  to  fall  back  to  Salisbury.  This  they 
did.1  This  column  had  been  seriously  hampered  by  the  loss 
of  its  ammunition.  Nine  young  men,  later  known  as  "The 
Black  Boys  of  Cabarrus,"  disguised  themselves  and  fell  upon 
a  convoy  that  was  taking  some  powder  from  South  Carolina  to 
General  Waddell,  beat  off  the  guards,  and  burnt  the  powder.2 

On  May  11  Tryon  moved  from  Hillsboro  in  order  to  relieve 
his  beleaguered  lieutenant.  His  route  took  him  through  the 
heart  of  the  country  of  the  Regulators.  He  halted  on  Sunday 
at  Colonel  Mebane's  for  divine  service  and  then  marched  to 
Haw  River,  where  he  was  joined  by  23  mounted  men  under 
Captain  Bullock.  This  constituted  his  sole  cavalry.3  For  the 
sake  of  justice  or  of  discipline,  or  for  policy,  he  issued  strict 
orders  against  the  taking  of  property  by  the  soldiers,  an  abuse 
that  was  getting  frequent  now  they  were  among  their  foes. 
On  the  11th  he  reached  the  banks  of  the  Alamance.  Here  he 
rested  a  day,  and  on  the  ICth  formed  his  army  in  line  of  battle 
and  marched  to  find  the  enemy,  who  were  assembled  about 
5  miles  farther  on.  He  had  formed  his  army  into  two  lines 
about  200  yards  apart.  In  the  first  were  the  companies  from 
Carteret,  Orange,  Beaufort,  and  New  Hanover,  and  three  com- 
panies from  Dobbs,  as  well  as  the  artillery.  In  the  second 
were  the  companies  from  Onslow  and  Johnston  and  the  remain- 
ing company  from  Dobbs.4  Two  companies  from  Orange  and 
a  number  of  sick  had  been  left  at  Hillsboro,  and  a  small  com- 
pany had  been  left  to  guard  the  camp  on  the  Alamance.  It  is 
likely,  therefore,  that  the  army  contained  on  that  morning 
some  less  than  1,000  men  and  officers. 

The  Regulators  in  the  meantime  had  assembled  to  the  num- 
ber of  2,000.  It  is  difficult  to  say  how  many  of  these  had 
arms.  Caruthers  thinks  that  not  over  1,000  had  them.  They 
had  neither  definite  aims  nor  efficient  organization.  Their 
leaders  seem  to  have  thought  that  by  making  a  show  of  force 
they  would  frighten  the  governor  into  granting  their  demands. 
They  had  much  trouble  in  holding  the  people  under  restraint. 
There  was  a  considerable  element  in  their  camp  that  could 

1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  608  and  610. 

2  lb.,  VIII,  622;  Wheeler,  II,  65. 
» lb.,  VIII,  581. 

4  In  this  arrangement  the  company  from  Pitt  was  mentioned.  This  nnist 
have  been  an  error,  as  the  return  shows  no  such  company  in  the  expedi- 
tion.    (See  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  583,  584,  and  677. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        203 

not  be  kept  quiet.  These,  against  the  wishes  of  the  leaders, 
caught  Col.  John  Ashe  and  Captain  Walker  on  the  morning 
of  the  15th,  while  they  were  out  scouting,  and  whipped  them 
severely.  This  action,  says  Caruthers,  "was  strongly  cen- 
sured by  the  great  body  of  the  Regulators,  and  some  of  them 
were  so  much  disgusted  that  they  threatened  to  give  up  the 
cause  entirely  if  such  acts  were  repeated."1  The  two  men 
were,  however,  held  prisoners. 

On  the  same  day  Dr.  Caldwell,  who  had  come  along  in  the 
interest  of  peace,  went  to  Tryon  in  reference  to  an  agreement 
on  the  points  at  issue.  A  petition  was  also  sent.  Possibly 
Dr.  Caldwell  carried  it.2  He  was  promised  a  reply  the  next 
morning.  On  the  16th,  as  the  army  was  put  into  motion  to 
move  up  to  the  Eegulators,  the  reply  was  sent.  It  offered  no 
concession,  but  required  that  the  people  should  submit  to  gov- 
ernment and  disperse,  and  gave  them  an  hour  in  which  to 
comply  with  the  conditions.3  The  ill-fated  people  seem  not  to 
have  realized  their  position.  They  remained  waiting  while 
Dr.  Caldwell  again  sought  the  governor.  They  had  not  the 
least  idea  of  what  a  battle  was,  and  when  their  envoy  returned 
to  report  his  failure  and  to  advise  them  to  go  to  their  homes 
they  stood  stolidly  in  their  places.  Husband,  who,  true  to  his 
attitude  as  peacemaker,  had  come  along  hoping  to  help  make 
a  compromise,  now  saw  that  there  was  no  hope  and  quietly 
rode  away.4  Dr.  Caldwell  sadly  did  the  same.  So  uncon- 
scious were  the  men  of  their  danger  that  they  were  engaged 
in  wrestling  matches,  when  an  old  soldier  who  happened  to  be 
among  them  advised  them  to  look  out  for  a  volley.  It  was  but 
a  few  minutes  before  the  firing  began.  Just  how  the  first 
shot  was  fired  is  matter  of  dispute.  All  agree  that  it  came 
from  the  governor's  side. r> 

iLifeof  Caldwell,  p.  147. 
2  Colonial  Records.  VIII,  640,  641. 
.    3Ib,  VIII,  642. 

4  Knowing  Ms  danger,  Husband  fled  to  his  old  home  in  Maryland.  Not 
stopping  long  there,  he  went  on  to  Western  Pennsylvania,  where  he  made 
his  future  home.  He  was  concerned  in  the  whisky  rebellion  and  was 
taken  and  condemned  to  death  for  his  part  in  it.  Through  the  interposi- 
tion of  friends  he  was  pardoned,  and  died  a  few  day  afterwards  at  a 
tavern  in  Philadelphia.     (Caruthers's  Life  of  Caldwell,  pp.  167,  168.) 

5  The  story  of  the  battle  as  told  by  Tryon's  friends  may  be  found  in 
Colonial  Records,  X,  1019-1022.  This  account  seems  to  have  been  inline 
with  that  of  the  eaiiv  historians  of  the  State. 


204  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

Tlie  Regulators  bad  no  officer  higher  than  captain,  and  each 
company  now  took  command  of  itself.  At  first  there  was 
much  confusion  on  their  side,  the  artillery  fire  being  very 
effective.  Some  hardy  men,  however,  crouched  behind  rocks 
and  trees  and  managed  to  drive  away  the  gunners  and  to  take 
the  guns.  They  were  not  supported  by  their  own  party,  and 
when  the  troops  rallied  against  them  they  abandoned  the  pieces, 
which  they  had  not  been  able  to  work.  Long  before  this  the 
remaining  Regulators  had  taken  to  flight,  and  now  the  field 
was  clear.1  The  action  had  lasted  two  hours,  and  the  loyalists 
had  lost  0  killed  and  Gl  wounded,2  while  the  loss  of  the  Regu- 
lators was  9  killed  and  a  great  number  wounded.3  About  15 
were  taken  prisoners.  One  of  these,  James  Few,4  was  executed 
on  the  spot.  He  was  a  visionary  man,  who  had  been  active  in 
the  Regulation.  His  execution  was  ordered  with  the  idea  of 
striking  terror  to  the  country.  It  was  needlessly  summary,  as 
the  movement  was  already  crushed. 

On  the  21st  the  troops  marched  to  Sandy  Creek,  where  the 
governor  remained  a  week  collecting  supplies  from  the  people 
and  imposing  an  oath  of  allegiance  on  them.  On  the  day  after 
the  battle  he  pardoned  by  proclamation  all  those  who  should 
submit  themselves  to  government  and  take  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance, except  those  who  were  already  captured  and  those  who 
had  recently  been  outlawed.5  This  proclamation  was  for  four 
days,  but  it  was  extended  at  various  times  until  all  the  country 
had  an  opportunity  to  take  it.6  The  British  Government  gave 
its  heartiest  approval  to  the  course  that  Tryon  had  pursued, 

1  We  have  followed  for  the  chief  events  of  the  battle  Caruthers's  Life  of 
Caldwell,  pp.  145-158. 

2 The  Regulators  put  this  number  higher,  but  these  figures  are  official. 
(Colonial  Records,  VIII,  634.) 

3  This  is  the  Regulators' own  statement.  Others  vary.  (See  Life  of 
Caldwell,  p.  157.) 

4  Few  had  been  indicted  and  consequently  outlawed  for  participation 
in  the  Hillsboro  riots.  He  was  a  carpenter,  and  lived  just  outside  of 
Hillsboro.  It  is  said  that  his  mind  had  become  unbalanced  because 
Fanning  had  seduced  the  young  woman  to  whom  he  was  affianced. 
(Caruthers's  Life  of  Caldwell,  p.  158.)  Fanning  insisted  that  he  should  be 
executed  on  the  spot  because  he  had  taken  part  in  the  destruction  of  his 
(Fanning's)  house.  The  Regulators  claimed  that  Few  was  not  present 
when  the  house  was  destroyed.  This  claim,  however,  was  not  advanced 
by  the  most  reliable  authority.     (Cf.  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  648.) 

fl  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  608,  609.     There  is  no  evidence  that  any  of  the 
cixty-two  indictments  of  the  court  held  at  Newbern  had  come  to  trial. 
6Ib.,  VIII,  613.     About  6,000  had  taken  it  on  July  4;  lb.,  IX,  9. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        205 

and  directed  liim  to  tender  publicly  the  King's  thanks  to  the 
troops  fur  their  loyal  conduct  during  the  campaign. 

On  May  29  the  army  moved  westward.  On  June  4  it  was 
joined  by  General  Waddell's  column,  and  on  June  0  the  united 
forces  celebrated  at  the  Moravian  settlement  the  King's  birth 
day  and  the  recent  victory.1  On  June  9  they  marched  away 
to  Hillsboro,  where  they  arrived  on  the  14th.  Four  days  later 
a  court-martial  tried  the  prisoners.  Some  were  convicted-  of 
treason.  On  the  next  day  the  army  was  drawn  up  to  wit- 
ness the  execution  of  six  of  these.  The  other  six  were  par- 
doned by  the  English  Government  at  the  request  of  Tryon.3 
On  the  8th  of  June  General  Waddell  had  led  his  forces  back 
by  the  way  he  hac\  come,  and  now,  with  the  prisoners  hanged 
as  an  example,  nothing  remained  to  be  done  but  to  march  the 
governor's  column  back  to  Newbern.4  This  task  Tryon  left 
to  Ashe.  He  himself  hastened  to  Newbern,  where  on  the  30th  / 
of  June  he  embarked  for  his  new  government,  and  with  his 
exit  there  disappeared  the  war  of  the  Kegulation. 

Two  features  of  this  campaign  should  have  further  notice. 
One  relates  to  the  trial  and  execution  of  the  six  prisoners. 
This  has  been  called  cruel.  All  punishment  is  cruel.  Looked 
at  from  Tryon's  standpoint  the  prisoners  were  rebels.  They 
were  executed  as  traitors.  It  was  hoped  that  their  death 
would  strike  terror  to  the  Regulators,  and  this  seems  to  have 
been  accomplished.  They  were  tried  at  a  special  term  of  the 
superior  court.3  Two  were  acquitted  and  twelve  condemned. 
One  of  those  executed  was  Benjamin  Merrill,  formerly  a 
captain  in  the  Eowan  militia.  He  died  repenting  his  con- 
nection with  the  Regulation,  and  asking  that  his  wife  and 
children  might  retain  his  lands.6  Tryon  recommended  that 
the  request  be  granted.  James  Pugh,  however,  died  stead- 
fast in  his  principles.  He  read  the  governor  a  lecture  from 
the  barrel  which  served  as  a  scaffold,  and  was  going  on  to 
speak  to  Fanning  when  the  barrel  was  overturned  and  the 
prisoner  was  strangled.7 


1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  592,  593. 

2 There  had  heen  several  courts-martial  for  the  trial  of  prisoners.     (Cf. 
Colonial  Records,  VIII,  587,  594,  and  598,  599.) 
3 lb.,  VIII,  635,  and  IX,  274. 
4Ib„  VIII,  649-650. 
6 lb.,  VIII,  650,  712. 

6Ib,  VIII,  650  and  656.     The  request  was  granted  (lb.,  IX,  65-66.) 
7Caruthers's  Life  of  Caldwell,  pp.  165, 166. 


206  AMERICAN   HISTORICAL   ASSOCIATION. 

The  other  incident  relates  to  Thomas  Person,  whose  later 
prominent  life  demands  that  his  connection  with  the  Regula- 
tors be  more  fully  stated.  Just  what  this  relation  was  does 
not  appear.  He  was  certainly  a  Regulator  in  spirit.  He  seems 
to  have  been  such  a  one  as  Husband,  not  actively  participating 
in  the  movement,  but  sympathizing  with  it  and  seeking  to 
guide  it.  We  usually  find  his  name  associated  in  it  with 
Husband's.  The  two  were  appointed  referees  by  the  Regula- 
tors of  Rowan  when  the  officers  there  agreed  to  arbitrate,1 
and  they  were  members  of  the  assembly  on  behalf  of  the 
Regulators.  Both  were  persecuted  by  the  assembly,  and  some 
of  the  Regulators  thought  that  both  were  expelled.2  This 
statement  is  not  true  as  regards  Person.  He  was  arraigned  for 
perjury  at  the  instigation  of  Richard  Henderson,  before  the 
short  assembly  of  1770,  but  the  matter  was  not  decided.3  The 
case  was  revived  and  the  charge  of  extortion  added  in  the 
assembly  of  1771.4  The  matter  was  referred  to  a  committee, 
which  entirely  exculpated  Person,  and  declared  that  the  pros- 
ecution was  due  to  envy  and  malice.5  The  report  was  ordered 
to  be  printed,  and  Henderson  was  commanded  to  pay  the  cost 
of  the  prosecution,  which  was  £117.6  This  action  was  taken 
just  before  adjournment.  Tryon  said  that  it  was  in  a  thin 
house,  and  that  the  verdict  would  be  reversed  by  the  next 
assembly,7  and  it  is  true  that  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
assembly  that  part  of  the  above  resolution  which  taxed  the 
costs  on  Henderson  was  rescinded. 8  .When  Tryon  was  march- 
ing through  the  country  he  took  Person  and  carried  him  a 
prisoner  to  Hillsboro.  Whether  he  was  tried  there  or  not  does 
not  appear.  There  is  a  story 9  to  the  effect  that  evidence  of 
his  guilt  was  removed  through  the  destruction,  either  by  him- 
self or  by  Rev.  George  Micklejohn,  of  certain  papers  at  his 
house. 10 


1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  533.  fi  lb.,  VIII,  461,  467. 

2  lb.,  VIII,  646.  7  lb.,  VIII,  525. 

3  lb.,  VIII,  118.  8  lb.,  IX,  196,  208. 

*  lb.,  VIII,  326,  333.  fl  lb.,  VIII,  p.  xxviii. 

5  lb.,  VIII,  448,  449. 
10  A  letter  was  published  in  the  Boston  Gazette,  August  11, 1771,  in  which 
an  unnamed  prisoner  was  said  to  have  been  taken  to  Wilmington  and 
there  released  on  bail.  Saunders  supposed  that  this  prisoner  was  Person 
(Colonial  Records,  VIII,  pp.  xxviii,  and  635,636).  This  is  an  error.  The 
letter  itself  contains  the  strongest  evidence  that  the  prisoner  resided  at 
Cross  Creek  (Fayetteville),  and  Tryon's  letter  book  makes  it  certain  that 
it  was  John  Wilcox,  a  merchant  of  that  place.     Clb.,  VIII,  718.) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        207 

Josiah  Martin  succeeded  Tryon  as  governor.  When  be 
arrived  in  the  colony  he  found  that  the  work  of  his  predeces- 
sor in  subduing  resistance  had  been  effective.  By  July  4, 
6,409  persons  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance.1  The  com- 
pleteness of  the  change  in  Orange  is  shown  by  the  election  of 
1771.  John  Pryor  was  dead  and  Husband  was  expelled,  two 
vacant  seats  being  thus  created.  To  fill  these  the  county 
choose  Ealph  McKair  and  Francis  Nash,  both  strong  anti- 
Regulators.2  Most  of  the  outlawed  leaders  were  in  hiding, 
some  being  in  South  Carolina.3  Husbai  d  had  fled  to  Mary- 
land first  and  then  to  Pennsylvania.4  They  now  begged  for 
mercy.  Either  through  friends  or  in  person  Jeremiah  Field,5 
Mnian  Bell  Hamilton,6  Matthew  HamiltonT5  James  Hunter,8  ^»*^> 
Thomas  Welborn,9  William  Butler, 10  and  John  Fruit^11  peti- 
tioned the  governor  for  pardon.  Martin  was  unwilling  to  act 
on  the  matter,  inasmuch  as  Tryon  had  referred  the  whole  affair 
to  the  Crown.12  He  recommended  waiting,  although  the  as- 
sembly had  asked  for  the  pardon  of  all  but  Husband,  Butler, 
and  Howell.13 

In  1772,  when  the  governor  made  a  visit  to  the  back  counties, 
the  outlawed  leaders  surrendered  themselves,  quietly  giving 
bond  for  their  future  appearance  at  Hillsboro  court.14  This 
was,  perhaps,  not  as  submissive  as  it  may  seem.  The  riot  law, 
having  been  made  for  one  year  only,  was  already  expired,  and 
it  was  a  question  whether  or  not  the  defendants  could  be  tried 
under  it.  Martin  called  on  the  chief  justice  and  the  associates 
for  an  opinion  on  the  matter.  The  consensus  of  the  replies 
was  that  the  defendants  could  not  be  treated  as  outlaws  under 
the  above  act,  but  that  they  could  be  tried  under  any  other 
law,  as  the  law  of  treason.15  This  discouraged  further  pros- 
•vecution  of  the  suits,  and  so  far  as  the  courts  were  concerned 

1  Colonial  Records,  IX,  9,  78. 

2  lb.,  IX,  177.  Fanning  seems  to  have  left  the  province  by  this  time. 
He  went  to  New  York,  where  he  was  a  Loyalist  in  the  Revolution,  and  after 
the  war  removed  to  British  America,  where  he  was  much  honored  as  tbe 
governor  of  Prince  Edwards  Island.     (Cf.  Wheeler,  II,  331.) 

3  Colonial  Records,  IX,  20.  10  lb.,  IX,  99,  100. 

4  lb.,  IX,  14.  "  lb.,  IX,  93.  ^ss 

6  lb.,  IX,  40,  41.  i*  lb.,  IX,  57. 

6 lb.,  IX,  38,  39.  ,3Ib.,  IX,  169  and  173. 

7  lb.,  IX,  84.  "  lb.,  IX,  313,  314,  and  348. 
8 lb.,  IX,  37,  85,  86.  16Ib.,  IX,  333-339. 

s  lb.,  IX,  25-27. 


208  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

the  matter  stopped  there.  A  general  amnesty  act  by  the 
colonial  assembly  was  all  that  was  needed  to  close  up  the 
case.  The  British  Government  advised  such  an  act,  but  in 
1773  the  provincial  upper  house  rejected  it  because  the  pro- 
posed bill  did  not  contain  enough  exceptions.1  When  the 
Eevolution  was  beginning  the  King,  as  a  matter  of  policy,  had 
the  governor  to  issue  a  proclamation  of  pardon  for  all  who  bad 
been  concerned  in  the  Eegulation,  with  the  single  exception  of 
Husband.2 

The  attempt  to  secure  reform  in  local  government  had  thus 
failed  most  signally.  The  people  had  now  either  to  submit  or 
to  move  out  into  the  wilderness  again.  Many  of  them  choose 
the  latter  alternative.  It  was  just  at  the  time  when  the  tide 
of  immigration  had  broken  over  the  mountains  into  that  fertile 
part  of  North  Carolina  which  afterwards  became  Tennessee. 
The  hopelessness  of  their  condition  was  to  many  a  greater 
evil  than  the  dangers  of  the  western  forest.  Accordingly  they 
joined  the  wagon  trains  for  the  west.  A  number  left  before 
the  battle  of  Alamance,  and  many  more  after  it.  Morgan 
Edwards  visited  the  country  in  1772  and  wrote:  "It  is  said 
1,500  departed  since  the  battle  of  Alamance,  and  to  my  knowl- 
edge a  great  many  more  are  only  waiting  to  dispose  of  their 
plantations  in  order  to  follow  them."3 

The  immediate  remedial  effect  of  the  Regulation  was  slight, 
although  some  bills  were  passed  that  were  in  line  with  the 
purposes  of  the  movement.  The  offensive  county  officers  re- 
mained and  in  some  cases  the  Regulators  lost  the  representa- 
tives they  had  gained.  It  was  abroad  that  the  movement  had 
its  greatest  effect.  In  Pennsylvania  and  Massachusetts,  where 
the  people  were  on  the  verge  of  revolution,  lurid  pictures 
of  the  struggle  of  the  oppressed  North  Carolinians  were  given 
in  the  press.4  For  example,  the  Boston  Gazette  published  the 
judicial  sentence,5  "  That  you,  Benjamin  Merrill,6  be  carried 
to  the  place  from  whence  you  came,  that  you  be  drawn  from 
thence  to  the  place  of  execution,  where  you  are  to  be  hanged 
by  the  neck;  that  you  be  cut  down  while  yet  alive;  that  your 
bowels  be  taken  out  and  burnt  before  your  face;  that  your 
head  be  cut  off;  your  body  be  divided  into  four  quarters,  and 


1  Colonial  Records,  IX,  621,  622.     *  lb.,  VIII,  635-648. 

2  lb.,  X,  90  and  405.  5  lb.,  VIII,  643. 

3  lb.,  VIII,  655.  6Ib.,  X,  90  and  405. 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        209 

this  to  be  at  His  Majesty's  disposal;  and  the  Lord  have  mercy 
on  your  soul." l  This  was  but  the  formal  sentence  for  treason 
and  does  not  indicate  any  particular  cruelty  in  Tryon's  official 
yet  it  was  doubtless  published  for  effect.  A  short  while  later 
the  same  paper  said  that  a  certain  "  glorious  triumvirate  should 

consist  of  Bernard,  H n,  and  Tryon."2 

It  has  often  been  thought  strange  that  the  Begulators  had 
but  little  to  do  with  the  Bevolution.  They  were  mostly  Tories. 
Jeremiah  Field  was  in  the  habit  of  saying  in  his  old  age  that  he 
had  fought  twice,  once  for  his  country  and  once  for  the  King, 
and  been  defeated  each  time,  and  that  he  would  fight  no  more.3 
This  loyalty  has  usually  been  attributed  to  the  Begulators' 
idea  of  the  sanctity  of  au  oath.  They  have  been  supposed  to 
have  realized  in  this  the  biblical  ideal  of  the  man  who  swears 
to  his  own  hurt  and  changes  not.4  That  the  oath  of  Tryon  had 
au  influence  on  their  conduct  is  very  likely;  but  another  strong 
influence  was  their  distrust  for  the  men  who  led  the  Bevolu- 
tion. The  same  men  who  had  oppressed  thein,  whom  they  had 
tried  to  turn  out  of  office,  whom  they  had  fought,  by  whom  they 
had  been  defeated,  and  who  still  kept  the  offices  through  which 
they  had  received  their  wrongs — these  men  no  w  came  to  the  Beg- 
ulators asking  aid  in  a  movement  which,  to  say  the  least,  was 
of  doubtful  issue.5  Among  those  who  led  the  new  movement 
only  one  man  could  be  found  who  was  of  note  among  the 
Begulators;  this  was  Thomas  Person,  a  member  of  the  pro- 
vincial council.  Many  of  the  Bevolution ary  officers  had  led 
troops  at  Alamance.  In  1775  two  regiments  were  raised  for  the 
American  service;  of  the  first  James  Moore  was  colonel  and 
Francis  Nash  lieutenant-colonel;  of  the  second  Bobert  Howe 
was  colonel  and  Alexander  Martin  was  lieutenant-colonel. 

1  Colonial  Records,  VIII,  643. 

2 lb.,  VIII,  639. 

3Caruthers's  Life  of  Caldwell,  p.  177. 

4 lb.,  p.  172. 

5  In  January,  1776,  Governor  Martin  reported  that  from  2,000  to  3,000  of  the 
Regulators  bad  given  him  assurance  tbat  they  were  ready  to  march  to  the 
aid  of  the  King's  Government  wherever  it  was  necessary.  (Col.  Recs.,  IX, 
1228,  and  X,  406.)  A  month  later  they  were  preparing  to  join  the  governor, 
who  was  then  on  a  ship  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear.  (lb.,  X,  452.)  A  body 
of  Regulators  and  Highlanders  was  assembled  and  marched  down  the 
bank  of  the  river.  They  were  intercepted  just  before  they  reached  Wil- 
mington, at  Moores  Creek,  and  entirely  defeated.  Among  the  prisoners 
were  several  prominent  Regulators.  (lb.,  X,  465,  and  485,  486.) 
H.  Mis.  91 14 


210  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

Iii  each  superior  court  district  a  battalion  of  militia  was 
formed.  In  Hillsboro  district  James  Tliackston  was  made 
colouel  and  John  Williams  lieutenant-colonel ;  while  Adlai  Os- 
borne was  made  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Salisbury  district. 
Caswell  was  colonel  of  the  Newbern  district  and  Edward  Vail 
of  the  Eclenton  district.  All  of  these  had  been  prominently 
opposed  to  the  Regulation.  In  civil  affairs  it  was  the  same 
story.  Samuel  Johnston,  the  author  of  the  riot  law,  exhibited 
himself  at  Hillsboro  in  1775  as  president  of  the  provincial 
congress.  This  was  a  remarkable  object  lesson.1  In  the  pro- 
vincial council  there  were  Samuel  Johnston,  who  presided; 
Samuel  Ashe,  Abner  Nash,  Samuel  Spencer,  and  Waighstill 
Avery,  while  William  Hooper  was  a  prominent  member  of 
the  provincial  congress  and  a  representative  of  the  State  in 
the  Continental  Congress.  All  these  the  Regulators  were  ac- 
customed to  look  upon  as  enemies.2  The  entire  government 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  officeholding  aristocracy  of  the  sev- 
eral counties.  For  these  the  mass  of  the  Regulators  had  little 
sympathy  and  less  confidence,  certainly  not  enough  to  induce 
them  to  break  an  oath  which  both  policy  and  religious  ideas 
prompted  them  to  keep.  In  view  of  their  past  experience 
they  doubtless  asked  themselves  what  good  it  would  be  to 
overthrow  the  existing  government  and  set  up  another  in 
which  Samuel  Spencer,  James  Tliackston,  Francis  Nash,  John 
Williams,  Thomas  Polk,  John  Ashe,3  and  Samuel  Johnston 
were  ruling  elements.4 

Did  the  Regulation  begin  the  Revolution?  Was  Alamance 
the  first  battle  of  the  struggle  for  American  independence1? 

^he  Regulators  were  not  indifferent  to  the  sight.  It  seems  that  the 
congress  actually  apprehended  violence  at  their  hands.  (See  Waddell: 
A  Colonial  Officer,  p.  155.) 

2  Wheeler,  I,  71-82. 

3  Thomas  Polk  was  a  colonel  and  John  Ashe  was  a  brigadier-general.  (lb. 
75  and  79. ) 

4  In  1775  William  Hooper  and  his  associates  in  Congress  wrote  from 
Philadelphia  to  the  provincial  council  of  North  Carolina,  suggesting  that 
two  ministers  be  employed  to  go  among  the  "  Regulators  and  Highlanders  " 
to  teach  that  the  cause  of  the  Colonies  was  the  cause  of  God  and  to  neu- 
tralize, as  far  as  possible,  the  effects  of  Tryon's  oath.  Congress  had 
directed  that  this  be  done  and  had  offered  to  pay  the  expenses.  This, 
however,  was  before  the  American  cause  meant  an  assertion  of  indepen- 
dence, and  Hooper  appears  to  have  contemplated  only  joining  the  Regu- 
lators with  the  others  in  a  protest  against  British  misgovernment.  (Cf. 
Colonial  Records,  VIII,  p.  xxiii.) 


REGULATORS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA BASSETT.        211 

We  ought  now  to  be  able  to  answer  this  question.  This  inves- 
tigation leads  to  the  view  that  the  Eegulation  could  have  no 
direct  connection  with  the  Eevolution.  I  can  see  no  conti- 
nuity of  influence.  The  Eegulation  did  not  make  the  later 
struggle  inevitable.  If  it  had  never  happened,  the  armies  of 
Washington  and  Clinton,  of  Greene  and  Cornwallis,  would 
have  fought  out  their  battles  much  the  same  as  they  did  fight  fi^j 
them.  As  was  remarked  at  the  beginning  of  this  paper,  the  ^^" 
Eegulation  was  aimed  at  agents  of  government ;  the  Eevolu- 
tion struggled  for  principles.  The  one  was  organized  and  led 
by  men  who  were  almost  entirely  hostile  to  the  leaders  of  the 
other.  It  is  true  that  some  Eegulators  were  in  the  armies  of 
the  Eevolution,  but  the  great  majority  of  them  were  Tories. 

There  is  a  sense,  however,  in  which  the  Eegulation  influ- 
enced the  Eevolution.  The  struggle  was  a  grand  object  lesson 
to  the  whole  country.  It  set  the  people  to  thinking  of  armed 
resistance.  Failure  as  it  was,  it  showed  how  weak  the  British  /5 
army  would  be  in  a  hostile  country.1  It  taught  the  North  *^ 
Carolina  troops  who  served  with  Tryon  to  appreciate  the  feel- 
ings of  such  an  army.  The  two  campaigns  of  Tryon  devel- 
oped the  military  organization  of  the  province.  When  the 
Eevolution  began,  it  was  only  necessary  that  this  organization 
should  be  put  into  motion.  It  was  thus  that  the  brilliant  lit- 
tle victory  at  Moores  Creek  was  secured,  with  the  result  that 
the  most  loyal  section  of  the  South  was  kept  from  joining  the 
British  and  thus  opening  a  way  to  cut  off  from  the  Federation 
the  three  southernmost  colonies. 

History  will  often  be  questioned  as  to  the  justness  of  this 
matter.  The  answer  will  be  chiefly  on  the  side  of  the  Eegula- 
tors. The  opinion  of  Governor  Martin  is  worth  quoting.  He 
is  generally  conceded  to  have  been  an  honest  and  sensible 
man,  although  he  was,  by  unfortunate  conditions,  inevitably 
condemned  to  defeat.  In  1772  he  took  a  journey  through  the 
back  counties,  and  while  at  Hillsboro  wrote  to  the  British 
Government:  "I  now  see  most  clearly  that  [the  j)eople]  have 
been  provoked  by  insolence  and  cruel  advantage  taken  of  the 
people's  ignorance  by  mercenary,  tricking  attorneys,  clerks, 
and  other  little  officers,  who  have  practiced  upon  them  every 

1  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  when  the  Revolutionary  struggle  was  about 
to  open,  Tryon  was  one  of  the  few  British  officials  in  America  who  warned 
t  "'.e  Home  Government  that  to  reduce  the  colonies  was  a  serious  task. 
(S3e  Tudor's  Life  of  Otis,  p.  428.) 


212  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

sort  of  rapine  and  extortion,"  and  who  had  enlisted  the  aid  of 
government  in  order  to  cover  their  own  transgressions.  This 
exasperated  the  people  and  u  drove  them  to  acts  of  despera- 
tion and  confederated  them  in  violences  which,  as  your  lord- 
ship knows,  induced  bloodshed,  and,  I  verily  believe,  necessa- 
rily." l  Three  months  later,  after  he  had  returned  to  New- 
bern,  he  modified  his  opinion  slightly.  He  then  wrote  that 
he  was  fully  convinced  that  the  people  had  been — 

grievously  oppressed  by  the  sheriffs,  clerks,  and  other  subordinate 
officers  of  government,  and  exceedingly  moved  my  compassion;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  I  can  assure  your  lordship  there  was  not  wanting  evi- 
dence of  most  extravagant  licentiousness  and  criminal  violences  on  the 
part  of  that  wretched  people,  which  [being]  provoked  by  the  abuse  I 
discovered,  or  by  other  causes  that  might  be  inscrutable  to  me,  seems 
at  length  to  have  urged  matters  to  a  crisis  that  necessarily  terminated  in 
bloodshed.  Upon  the  whole,  I  am  not  without  hopes,  my  lord,  that  the 
vigorous  measures  taken  by  my  predecessor  under  those  circumstances 
may  have  a  tendency  to  keep  under  the  disorderly  spirit.2 

This  view  seems  eminently  correct,  and  with  it  we  may  rest 
our  case. 

1  Colonial  Records,  IX,  330. 
2 lb.,  IX,  357-358. 


iS 


1 


